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CHILDREN'S   BOOKS 
AND  READING 


Br  MONTROSE  J.   MOSES 

FAMOUS  ACTOR  FAMILIES  IN  AMERICA 
LITERATURE     OF    THE    SOUTH     In  preparation 

EDITED  BY  MR.   MOSES 

EVERYMAN     A  Morality  Play 


Children's  Books 
and  Reading 


By 
MONTROSE  J.  MOSES 


NEW  YORK 
MITCHELL  KENNERLEY 


Copyright i  igo'j,  by  Mitchell  KtnnerUy 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Introductory  Note  v 

I.  The  Problem  1 

II.  The  Rise  of  Children's  Books  19 
I.  Horn-books;    Chap-books;    New  Eng- 
land Primer  20 
II.  La  Fontaine  and  Perrault  34 

III.  Mother  Goose  40 

IV.  John     Newbery;     Ohver     Goldsmith; 

Isaiah  Thomas  46 

III.  The  Old-fashioned  Library  61 

I.  The  Rousseau  Impetus  61 
II.  The  Edge  worths;   Thomas  Day;    Mrs. 

Barbauld  and  Dr.  Aikin  76 
HI.  The  Sunday-school:    Raikes;    Hannah 

More;  Mrs.  Trimmer  101 
IV.  The    Poets:     Watts;     Jane    and    Ann 

Taylor;  WiHiam  Blake  119 

V.  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb;  the  Godwins  130 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

IV.  Concerning  Now  and  Then  143 

I.  The  English  Side  143 
Enghsh  Table 

II.  The  American  Side  150 

American  Table 

III.  The  Present  Situation  162 

V.  The  Library  and  the  Book  166 
I.  Children's  Books:    Their  Classification; 

their  Characteristics  167 
II.  The  Library,  the  School,  the  Home — 

a  Plea  for  Culture  180 

III.  Book-lists  and  Book-selecting  189 

rV.  The  Experimental  Temptation  195 

VI.  Appendix  200 

I.  Book-lists  Published  by  Libraries  200 

II.  A  List  of  Selected  Books  for  Children  208 

III.  Bibliographical  Note  269 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

In  the  course  of  preparing  the  material  for  the 
following  sketch,  I  was  brought  into  very  agreeable 
relations  wth  many  persons  whose  practical  ex- 
perience in  library  work  proved  of  exceptional  value 
to  me.  I  wish  to  take  this  means  of  thanking  Miss 
Annie  Carroll  Moore,  Supervisor  of  Children's 
Rooms  in  the  New  York  Public  Library,  and  Mr. 
C.  G.  Leland,  Supervisor  of  School  Libraries  and 
member  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Education,  for 
every  encouragement  and  assistance. 

To  Miss  Caroline  M.  Hewins  of  the  Hartford 
Public  Library,  Miss  Frances  Jenkins  Olcott  of 
the  Pittsburgh  Carnegie  Library,  Miss  Caroline 
Burnite  of  the  Cleveland  Public  Library,  the  Rever- 
end Joseph  McMahon,  a  member  of  the  Advisory 
Board  of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  Mr.  Fred- 
eric W.  Erb  of  the  Columbia  University  Library, 
and  to  Mr.  Tudor  Jenks,  I  am  indebted  for  general 
advice. 

In  special  lines,  I  had  the  privilege  of  consultation 
with  Mr.  Frank  Damrosch,  Mr.  C.  Whitney  Coombs, 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

and  Miss  Kate  Cohen  for  music ;  Miss  Emilie  Michel 
for  French;  and  Miss  Hedwig  Hotopf  for  German. 

The  hbrarians  of  Columbia  University,  the  Pratt 
Institute,  and  the  Astor  Library  have  rendered  me 
marked  service  for  which  I  am  grateful. 

I  wish  to  thank  the  New  York  Outlook,  Independ- 
ent, and  Evening  Post  for  affording  me  opportunities 
to  publish  from  time  to  time  data  relating  to  juvenile 
books  and  reading. 

Finally,  I  wish  to  fix  the  responsibility  for  whatever 
statements  are  made  in  the  way  of  criticism  upon 
myself;  this  is  only  due  to  those  whose  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  subject  is  being  exerted  in  a  pro- 
fessional capacity;  and  to  those  many  authors  whose 
books  and  papers  are  indicated  in  the  bibliograph- 
ical notes. 

M.  J.  M. 

Nkw  York,  August,  1907. 


CHILDREN'S   BOOKS 
AND  READING 

I.  THE  PROBLEM 

Any  good  book,  any  book  that  is  vnser  than  yourself, 
will  teach  you  some  things. — Carlyle,  to  an  unknown 
correspondent,  March  13,  1843. 

Therfore  I  pray  that  no  man  Reprehende 
This  lytyl  Book,  the  whiche  for  you  I  make; 
But  where  defaiite  ys,  latte  ylke  man  amende. 
And  nouhte  deme  yt;  [/]  pray  thaym  for  youre  sake. 

— The  Babees  Book. 

npHE  field  of  children's  books  is  by  no  means  an 
-^  uninterrupted  host  of  dancing  daffodils;  it  is 
not  yellow  with  imperishable  gold.  In  fact,  there  is 
a  deplorable  preponderance  of  the  sere  and  yellow 
leaf.  Yet  there  is  no  fairer  opportunity  for  the 
writer  than  that  which  offers  itself  in  the  voluntary 
spirit  of  a  boy  or  girl  reader.  Here  are  to  be  met 
no  crotchets  or  fads,  no  prejudices  or  unthinka- 
ble canons  of  art.  Because  the  body  is  surcharged 
with  surplus  energy  necessary  to  growth,  because  the 
mind  is  throwing  out  delicate  tendrils  that  fore- 
shadow its  potential  future,  one  realises  how  vital 
is  the  problem  of  children's  reading,  how  significant 
the  manner  in  which  it  is  being  handled. 


2     CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

At  the  outset,  it  is  essential  for  us  to  distinguish 
between  theory,  history,  and  practice.  The  field, 
with  all  its  rich  soil,  is  in  need  of  weeding.  Not  so 
very  long  ago,  it  lay  unrecognised  by  the  library, 
as  of  sufficient  importance  for  separate  and  special- 
ised consideration.  But  now,  with  the  prominence 
being  given  to  children's  reading-rooms,  the  field 
needs  to  be  furrowed.  Let  us  not  ignore  the  salu- 
brious under-stratum  of  the  past;  it  has  served  its 
mission  in  asserting  the  claims  of  childhood;  it  has 
both  negatively  and  positively  marked  the  individ- 
uality of  childhood,  in  a  distinctive  juvenile  literature. 
Perhaps  the  writers  who  were  inspired  by  the  Rous- 
seau doctrine  of  education,  and  those  who  abetted 
the  Sunday-school  movement  of  the  last  century, 
were  deceived  in  their  attitude;  for  they  considered 
the  machinery  by  which  they  hoped  to  mould  char- 
acter, rather  than  the  nature  of  the  heart  and  soul 
upon  which  they  were  actually  working.  A  right 
action,  a  large,  human,  melodramatic  deed,  are 
more  healthy  for  boys  and  girls  than  all  the  rea- 
sons that  could  be  given  for  them.  In  literature  for 
children,  as  in  life,  the  moral  habit  should  be  un- 
questioning. All  leading  educators  and  ethical 
teachers  recognise  this  fact. 

The  whole  matter  simply  resolves  itself  into  a 
difference  in  viewpoint  between  the  past  and  present. 
Smile  as  we  must  over  the  self-conscious  piousness 
of  early  juvenile  literature,  it  contained  a  great  deal 


THE    PROBLEM  3 

of  sincerity;  it  did  its  pioneer  work  excellently  well. 
To  the  writer  of  children's  books,  to  the  home, 
where  one  essential  duty  is  personal  guidance,  to 
the  librarian  whose  work  is  not  the  science  of 
numbers,  but  a  profession  of  culture-distributing, 
some  knowledge  of  the  past  harvests  from  this  field 
would  appear  indispensable.  For  the  forgotten  tales 
of  long  ago,  the  old-fashioned  stories  represent  some- 
thing more  than  stained  pages  and  crude  woodcuts, 
than  stilted  manners  and  seeming  priggishness;  they 
stand  for  the  personal  effort  and  service  of  men  and 
women  striving  with  staunch  purpose  in  the  interests 
of  childhood,  however  mistaken  their  estimates  oi 
this  childhood  may  have  been.  These  books,  to 
the  library,  are  so  much  fallow  material  as  a  practical 
circulating  proposition,  but  they  represent  forces 
significant  in  the  history  of  children's  books.  I 
would  much  rather  see  a  librarian  fully  equipped 
with  a  knowledge  of  Miss  Edge  worth's  life,  of  her 
human  associations,  together  with  the  inclinations 
prompting  her  to  write  "The  Parent's  Assistant," 
than  have  her  read  a  whole  list  of  moral  tales  of  the 
same  purport  and  tone. 

The  immediate  problem,  therefore,  necessitates  a 
glance  at  this  field  of  children's  literature,  and  some 
knowledge  of  its  essential  details.  It  involves  a  con- 
tact with  books  of  all  grades ;  it  calls  into  play,  with 
the  increasing  number  of  libraries,  and  with  the 
yearly  addition  of  children's  rooms,  a  keen  discerning 


4     CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

judgment  on  the  part  of  the  hbrarian,  not  only  as 
to  child  nature,  but  as  to  the  best  methods  of  elimina- 
tion, by  which  bad  books  may  be  separated  from 
good,  and  by  v.hich  the  best  may  preponderate. 
But  the  librarian  is  not  the  only  factor;  the  parent 
and  the  writer  also  come  into  account.  They,  too, 
must  share  a  responsibility  which  will  be  more  fully 
determined  later  on,  but  which  now  means  that  they 
both  owe  the  child  an  indispensable  duty;  the  one 
in  giving  to  the  growing  boy  or  girl  most  intelligent 
guidance  along  the  path  of  fullest  development; 
the  other  in  satisfying  this  need — not  in  deflecting 
juvenile  taste  by  means  of  endless  mediocrity  and 
mild  sentimentalism.  It  is  an  unfortunate  circum- 
stance that  the  effects  of  mediocrity  are  longer-lived 
than  the  immediate  evil  itself. 

In  the  problem  of  children's  reading  we  must 
consider  two  aspects;  there  is  the  bogey  image  of 
a  theoretical  or  sociological  or  educational  child, 
and  also  the  book  as  a  circulating  commodity.  There 
is  the  machinery  of  "  The  Child  " ;  Dr.  Isaac  Watts 
shaped  one;  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  another;  the 
Edgeworths  still  another,  and  now  the  psychologist's 
framework  of  childhood,  more  subtle,  more  scien- 
tific, more  interesting,  threatens  us  everywhere. 
But  no  patent  has  so  far  supplanted  the  fundamental 
excellence  of  human  nature.  There  are  assuredly 
demarkations  and  successive  steps  in  elementary 
education,  but  are  not  these  becoming  too  specialised  .' 


THE    PROBLEM  5 

Since  we  are  dealing  with  the  Boy  and  the  Story 
rather  than  with  the  Scholar  and  the  Text-book, 
with  culture  which  is  personal,  and  not  with  expedi- 
ency, we  needs  must  choose  the  human  model  in 
preference  to  all  others. 

And  so  it  is  with  the  choice  of  the  librarian.  In 
dealing  with  books  in  the  bulk,  there  is  a  tendency 
to  emphasise  system  above  the  humanising  excel- 
lence of  what  the  books  contain.  After  all  the  mechan- 
ical detail  is  done,  when  the  cover  has  been  labelled, 
when  the  catalogue  notation  has  been  figured,  when 
the  class  distribution  has  been  determined,  the 
librarian  stands  middleman  in  a  threefold  capacity. 
She  is  a  purveyor,  in  the  sense  that  she  passes  a  book 
over  the  counter;  she  is  a  custodian,  in  so  far  as 
books  need  protection;  she  is  the  high  priestess, 
since  the  library  is  a  temple  of  treasures,  a  store- 
house for  our  literary  heritage.  In  any  library, 
whether  it  be  yours  at  home,  with  your  own  books 
upon  the  shelves,  or  the  public's,  with  volumes 
representing  so  much  of  your  taxation  on  which  you 
base  your  citizenship,  the  rare  companionship  of 
books  is  one  of  their  humanising  qualities.  This 
is  as  much  a  truth  for  children  as  for  grown-ups. 

With  the  fear  that  there  is  an  effort  on  the  part  of 
many  to  crystallise  reading  into  a  science,  comes  the 
necessity  to  foster  a  love  of  reading  for  its  own  sake. 
The  democracy  of  books  has  grown  larger  with  the 
cheapening  process  of  manufacture ;  while  the  estab- 


6     CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

lishment  of  public  libraries  offers  to  every  one  an 
equal  privilege.  In  an  assemblage  of  many  books, 
a  certain  spiritual  dignity  should  attach  itself  to  the 
utilitarian  fact. 

There  is  no  definition  for  children's  books;  the 
essential  point  is  appeal,  interest.  As  far  back  as 
1844,  a  writer  in  the  Quarterly  Review  very  aptly 
claimed  that  "  a  genuine  child's  book  is  as  little  like 
a  book  for  grown  people  cut  down,  as  the  child  him- 
self is  like  a  little  old  man."  Peculiarly,  there  is  a 
popular  misconception  that  an  author  of  juveniles 
advances  in  art  only  when  he  or  she  leaves  off  penning 
stories  or  fairy  tales,  and  begins  publishing  novels. 
On  the  face  of  it,  this  is  absurd.  Like  any  other 
gift,  writing  for  children  cannot  be  taught;  it  has  to 
be  born.  If  possible,  with  the  exception  of  drama, 
it  is  the  most  difficult  art  to  master,  since  its  narra- 
tive will  not  stand  imitation,  since  its  simplicity  must 
represent  naturalness  and  not  effort,  since  its  mean- 
ing must  be  within  reach,  and  without  the  tone  of 
condescension. 

Professor  Richard  Burton  has  written:  "A  piece 
of  literature  is  an  organism,  and  should,  therefore, 
be  put  before  the  scholar,  no  matter  how  young,  with 
its  head  on,  and  standing  on  both  feet."  This 
injunction  applies  to  all  books.  Where  the  classics 
excel  is  in  their  very  fulness  and  honesty  of  narrative. 
Can  the  same  be  said  of  our  "  series  "  brand  ? 

The  writing  of  children's  books  is  more  aptly  phrased 


THE    PROBLEM  7 

the  writing  of  books  for  children.  There  was  a  time 
when  such  books,  as  a  class  by  themselves,  were 
unknown;  yet  boys  and  girls  expanded,  and  perhaps 
remembered  more  of  what  they  read  than  they  do 
to-day,  although  they  were  not  taught  as  much. 
There  are  some  pessimists,  not  so  unwise  in  their 
pessimism,  who  believe  that  if  less  emphasis  was 
bestowed  upon  the  word  children,  and  more  upon 
the  word  literature,  the  situation  would  be  mate- 
rially bettered. 

Can  we  recall  any  of  our  great  men — literary, 
scientific,  or  otherwise — who  were  brought  up  on 
distinctively  juvenile  literature.  A  present-day  boy 
who  would  read  what  Lamb  or  Wordsworth,  Coleridge 
or  Tennyson,  Gladstone  or  Huxley  devoured  with 
gusto  in  their  youth,  would  set  the  psychologists  hi 
a  flutter,  would  become  an  object  for  head-lines  in 
our  papers.  There  is  a  mistaken  conception  re- 
garding what  are  children's  books,  in  the  best  sense 
of  the  word.  A  standard  which  might  have  excellent 
conservative  results,  although  it  would  be  thoroughly 
one-sided  and  liable  to  false  interpretation,  could  be 
based  on  the  assertion  that  those  books  only  are 
children's  classics  which  can  be  relished  by  a  grown- 
up public.  "Alice  in  Wonderland,"  "The  Water 
Babies,"  "  Peter  Pan  " — such  stories  have  a  universal 
appeal.  And  it  is  well  to  remember  that  at  least 
five  of  the  world's  classics,  not  originally  written  for 
children,  have  been  appropriated  by  them:    "The 


8       CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Arabian  Nights";  "Pilgrim's  Progress";  "Robin- 
son Crusoe";  "Gulliver's  Travels";  "Baron  Mun- 
chausen." 

With  the  reading  democracy  created  by  public 
libraries,  there  has  developed  the  need  for  this 
special  kind  of  writing.  Excesses  have  unfortu- 
nately arisen  such  as  made  a  critic  once  exclaim  in 
disgust,  "Froissart  is  cut  into  spoon-meat,  and 
Josephus  put  into  swaddling  clothes."  While  we 
shall,  in  the  following  pages,  find  many  odd  theories 
and  statements  regarding  simplification  of  style, 
it  is  as  well  to  be  forearmed  against  this  species  of 
writing.  Democracy  in  literature  is  falsely  associated 
with  mediocrity.  When  one  reads  the  vitiating 
"  series  "  class  of  story-book,  the  colourless  college  rec- 
ord, the  diluted  historical  narrative,  there  is  cause  for 
despair.  But  there  is  no  need  for  such  cheapening. 
The  wrong  impression  is  being  created  in  the  popular 
mind  that  literature  is  synonymous  with  dulness; 
that  only  current  fiction  is  worth  while.  And 
we  find  children  confessing  that  they  rarely  read 
non-fiction,  a  term  they  only  dimly  comprehend. 
It  is  not  right  that  a  middle-class  population  should 
have  relegated  to  it  a  middle-class  literature.  Such, 
however,  at  the  present  moment,  seems  to  be  the 
situation.  And  as  a  consequence  all  departments 
suffer.  Except  for  a  very  few  volumes,  there  is  no 
biography  for  children  that  is  worthy  of  endorsement, 
for  the  simple  reason  that  the  dignity  of  a  whole  life. 


THE    PROBLEM  9 

its  meaning  and  growth,  are  subordinated  to  the 
accentuation  of  a  single  incident.  History  becomes 
a  handmaiden  to  the  slender  story.  Let  those 
writers  who  are  looking  for  an  unworked  vein  ponder 
this.  The  fictionising  of  all  things  is  one  of  the 
causes  for  this  poverty;  the  text-book  habit  another. 
The  poet  Blake  sings: 

"Thou  hast  a  lap  full  of  seed. 
And  this  is  a  fine  country. 
Why  dost  thou  not  cast  thy  seed. 
And  live  in  it  merrily?" 

But,  though  we  are  repeatedly  casting  our  seed  in  the 
field  of  juvenile  literature,  we  are  not  reaping  the 
full  harvest,  because  we  are  not  living  in  the  land  of 
childhood  merrily. 

Start  as  you  will  to  treat  of  children's  books  as 
the  mere  vehicle  for  giving  joy,  and  education 
will  pursue  you.  Acknowledging  all  the  benefits 
that  the  moral  tale  and  the  instructive  walk  have 
bestowed,  we  know  not  which  to  pity  most — the 
child  in  a  moral  strait-jacket,  or  the  child  observing 
nature!  The  terms  we  use  in  describing  these 
writers  of  a  past  generation  are  always  the  same; 
they  are  not  prepossessing,  though  they  may  sound 
quaint.  We  turn  from  such  critical  phrases  as 
"flabby  treatment  of  the  Bible,"  "dear,  didactic, 
deadly  dull"  Mrs.  Barbauld,  Miss  Edgeworth's 
"overplus  of  sublime  purpose,"  to  definite  terms 
of  protest  such  as  those  of  the  "Professor  at  the 


10     CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Breakfast  Table,"  condemning  the  little  meek 
sufferers  with  their  spiritual  exercises,  and  those  of 
Emerson  ending  in  his  cry  of  "  What  right  have  you 
to  one  virtue!"  The  mistaken  attitude,  which  has 
slipped  from  the  moral  to  the  educational  sphere, 
seems  to  be  that  self -development  is  not  just  as  im- 
portant as  prescribed  courses.  While  the  latter  are 
necessary  to  the  school,  the  librarian  must  reckon 
differently;  for,  to  her,  the  child  is  not  so  much  a 
class  as  a  unit. 

Elementary  education  is  marked  by  the  compulsory 
factor;  in  reading,  a  child's  interest  is  voluntary. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  severity  of  a  Puritan  Sunday, 
the  grimness  of  a  New  England  Primer,  developed 
in  childhood  sound  principles  of  righteousness; 
they  erected  a  high  fence  between  heaven  and  hell. 
But  the  moral  tale  utilised  "little  meannesses  of 
conventional  life,"  suggested  sly  deceit  and  trivial 
pettiness;  it  quibbled  and  its  ethics  were  often  doubt- 
ful. The  reaction  that  followed  let  slip  a  valuable 
adjunct  in  culture;  to-day  the  knowledge  of  the 
Bible  in  schools  and  colleges  is  appalhngly  shallow; 
this  fact  was  revealed  in  the  results  of  an  examination 
or  test  held  by  President  Thwing  some  years  ago. 
Dr.  Felix  Adler,  pleading  from  the  non-sectarian 
platform,  asks  for  the  re-establishment  of  ethics 
in  our  schools  as  a  study  of  social  relations,  and  for 
the  extended  use  of  Bible  stories,  .shorn  of  religious 
meaning,  yet  robbed  of  none  of  their  essential  strength 


THE    PROBLEM  11 

or  beauty  or  truth.  The  Ubrarian  has  wisely  mapped 
out  for  her  story  hour  such  a  course,  gleaned  from  the 
parables,  and  from  the  vast  treasure  houses  of  narra- 
tive abounding  in  both  Testaments  and  in  fables. 

Turn  to  your  colleges  and  your  schools,  and  you  will 
find  that,  generally  speaking,  there  is  dug  a  deep  chan- 
nel between  literature  and  life,  which  has  no  right  to 
be.  We  should  study  our  ethics  as  one  of  the  inher- 
ent elements  in  poetry  and  in  prose.  The  moral 
habit  is  part  of  the  structure  of  the  Arthurian  legends. 

Since  the  time  of  Rousseau  the  emancipation  of 
the  child  has  steadily  advanced;  in  society,  he  has 
taken  his  place.  No  longer  is  it  incumbent  upon 
him  to  be  seen  and  not  heard,  no  longer  are  his  an- 
swers written  out  for  him  to  memorise.  Mr.  E.  V. 
Lucas,  in  the  preface  to  his  "Forgotten  Tales  of 
Long  Ago,"  calls  attention  to  one  story,  "  Ellen  and 
George;  or.  The  Game  at  Cricket,"  culled  from 
"Tales  for  Ellen,"  by  AHcia  Catherine  Mant,  and 
in  a  characteristically  droll  manner  he  says,  "  Ellen's 
very  sensible  question  (as  it  really  was)  on  p.  184, 
'  Then  why  don't  you  send  the  cat  away  ? '  is  one  of 
the  first  examples  of  independent — almost  revolu- 
tionary— thought  in  a  child,  recorded  by  a  writer 
for  children  in  the  early  days." 

But  the  chains  that  have  fallen  from  one  door  have 
been  threatening  to  shackle  another.  Where  once 
children  could  scarcely  escape  the  moral,  their  imagi- 
nations now  have  no  room  for  flight.     Fancy  is  be- 


12     CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

strided  by  fact.  We  must  give  reasons  for  every- 
thing. When  Artemus  Ward  was  asked  why  the 
summer  flowers  fade,  he  exclaimed,  "Because  it's 
their  biz,  let  'em  fade."  In  nature  study  for  children 
the  general  effect  leaves  a  deeper  impression  than 
the  technical  structure.  We  do  not  know  whether 
it  is  necessary  to  have  Mr.  Seton's  "  Story  of  Wahb  " 
vouched  for  as  to  accuracy  in  every  detail.  The 
scientific  naturalists  and  story-writers  are  constantly 
wrangling,  but  there  is  not  so  much  harm  done  to 
nature  after  all.  An  author  who  wilfully  perverts 
fact,  who  states  as  true  for  the  class  what  he  knows 
to  be  a  variant  in  the  one  coming  under  his  observa- 
tion, should  be  called  to  account.  Otherwise  a 
human  interest  attached  to  animals  creates  a  wide 
appeal.  But  to  use  this  vehicle  for  exploiting  the 
commonplace,  and  what  properly  belongs  to  the  text- 
book, should  be  condemned  by  the  librarian.  Mr. 
Tudor  Jenks  *  humorously  declares :  "  We  ask  our 
little  ones  to  weep  over  the  tribulations  of  a  desti- 
tute cock-roach  or  a  bankrupt  tumble-bug."  And 
another  critic  of  an  earlier  age  writes  of  those  same 
children — "They  are  delighted,  it  is  true,  with  the 
romantic  story  of  'Peter,  the  wild  boy,'  but  they 
have  not  the  slightest  curiosity  to  know  the  natural 

*  Mr.  Jenks,  besides  editing  for  St.  Nicholas  Magazine  durine 
many  years  a  unique  department  known  as  "  Books  and  Readine,* 
has  written  widely  on  tne  subject  of  juvenile  literature.  See  nis 
"The  Modern  Child  as  a  Reader."  The  Book-buyer,  August, 
1901,  p.  17. 


THE    PROBLEM  13 

history,  or  Linnsean  nomenclature  of  the  pig-nuts 
he  ate." 

The  following  pages  have  been  written  after  some 
extensive  investigation.  Within  the  past  few  years, 
about  fifteen  hundred  of  the  latest  books  for  children 
have  come  to  my  desk;  they  have  not  been  without 
meaning  for  the  present,  or  without  connection  with 
the  past.  While  it  has  not  been  the  intention  to  write 
a  full  history  of  children's  books,  some  idea  is 
given  of  the  extent  and  possibilities  of  the  field; 
the  historical  development  is  sketched  in  outline. 
There  is  need  for  a  comprehensive  volume.  In  ad- 
dition, an  attempt  is  here  made  to  reconcile  system 
with  culture;  to  discover  what  the  library  is  aiming 
to  do  with  juvenile  readers  in  the  community;  to 
show  the  relation  which  the  Library,  the  School,  and 
the  Home,  bear,  one  to  the  other,  and  all  to  the  child. 
Having  carefully  examined  lists  of  books  recommend- 
ed by  libraries  for  children  of  all  ages  and  grades,  a 
limited  number  of  volumes,  marked  by  an  excellence 
which  makes  them  worthy  of  preservation,  is  recom- 
mended as  suitable  for  boys  and  girls.  These  titles  are 
given  in  an  appendix.  The  fault  with  most  lists  of  this 
character  is  that  they  too  often  represent  the  choice  of 
one  person.  To  counteract  this  one-sidedness,  the  co- 
operation of  an  advisory  board  was  obtained,  marked 
by  wide  experience,  by  an  intimate  contact  with  and 
knowledge  of  the  books  considered,  and  by  a  desire 
to  show  a  human  respect  for  the  tastes  of  children. 


14     CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

There  are  certain  phases  in  the  consideration  of 
the  departments  that  have  been  suggested  by  young 
readers  themselves.  The  desire  for  books  about 
musicians,  and  for  piano  and  vioUn  scores,  brought 
to  Ught  the  lack  of  any  guaranteed  assemblage  of 
songs  which,  in  variety,  in  quality,  in  sentiment  and 
imagination,  might  be  called  distinctive.  The  interest 
in  a  certain  type  of  drawing  as  shown  by  the  juvenile 
demand  for  Boutet  de  ]Monvel,  Kate  Greenaway, 
and  Caldecott  picture-books,  suggested  the  advisa- 
bility of  including  a  full  list  of  these  publications.* 
One  cannot  approach  the  subject  with  any  ironclad 
rules,  yet  it  is  always  profitable  to  heed  experiments 
based  on  common  sense.  The  results  of  such  ex- 
periments are  but  milcposts  in  the  general  advance; 
they  must  not  be  taken  as  final.  Yet  it  is  well  to 
experiment  in  order  to  avoid  crystallisation. 

Children  are  entitled  to  their  full  heritage ;  educa- 
tion is  paramount,  culture  is  the  saving  grace. 
Your  memory  of  a  child  is  the  healthy  glow  of  the 
unfettered  spirit.  None  of  us  want  him  with  a  book 
in  his  hand  all  the  time.  We  wish  him  to  take  the 
freshness  of  life  as  his  nature,  to  run  with  hair  tossing 
to  the  wind.     But  glance  into  his  eyes  and  you  will 

*  An  interesting  field  for  research  is  that  of  the  ilhistration  of 
cliildreu's  books.  Note  Thomas  Bewick,  John  Bewick,  etc.  Of 
a  later  period,  Tenniel,  Cruikshank,  Dore,  llerr  Richtcr.  J^ide 
"The  Child  and  His  Book,"  Mrs.  E.  M.  Field,  chap,  xiv;  "Some 
Illustrators  of  Children's  Books."  Also  "Children's  Books  and 
their  Illustrators."  Glee.son  WTiite,  The  International  Studio. 
Special  Winter  No.,  1897-98. 


THE    PROBLEM  15 

find  a  craving  look  that  a  ball  will  not  satisfy,  a 
far-away  expression  that  no  shout  from  the  roadside 
will  change.  It  is  the  placid  gleam  of  sunset  after 
physical  storm,  the  moment  of  rest  after  the  overflow 
of  animal  energy.  Cliildren  have  their  hero  moments 
when  they  are  not  of  the  present,  but  are  part  of  that 
perennial  truth  which  is  clearer-visioned  in  the  past, 
since  we  have  to  dream  of  it.  Kate  Douglas  Wiggin  ( 
claims  that  the  book  is  a  fact  to  a  child.  It  should  f 
be  an  idealising  fact. 

Not  long  ago  a  crazy  man  died,  after  having  drawn 
up  a  will :  his  world's  goods  consisted  of  the  wide,wide 
world;  his  legatees  were  every  living  soul.     He  said: 

"  I  leave  to  children,  inclusively,  but  only  for  the 
term  of  their  childhood,  all  and  every,  the  flowers  of 
the  fields,  and  the  blossoms  of  the  woods,  with  the 
right  to  play  among  them  freely,  according  to  the 
customs  of  children,  warning  them  at  the  same  time 
against  thistles  and  thorns.  And  I  devise  to  children 
the  banks  of  the  brooks,  and  the  golden  sands  be- 
neath tlie  waters  thereof,  and  the  odors  of  the  willows 
that  dip  therein,  and  the  white  clouds  that  float  high 
over  the  giant  trees.  And  I  leave  the  children  the 
long,  long  days  to  be  merry  in,  in  a  thousand  ways, 
and  the  night  and  the  moon  and  the  train  of  the 
milky  way  to  wonder  at." 

What  thinks  the  teacher  of  such  riches,  what  the 
librarian  with  her  catalogue  number?  A  book  is 
a  fact,  nay,  a  friend,  a  dream.     Is  there  not  a  creed 


16   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

for  us  all  in  the  wisdom  of  that  crazy  man  ?  Here 
was  one  with  clear  vision,  to  whom  fact  was  as  nothing 
before  the  essential  of  one's  nature — a  prophet,  a 
seer,  one  to  whom  the  tragedy  of  growing  up  had 
been  no  tragedy,  but  whose  memory  of  childhood 
had  produced  a  chastening  effect  upon  his  manhood. 
Are  we  surprised  to  find  him  adding: 

"I  give  to  good  fathers  and  mothers,  in  trust  for 
their  children,  all  good  little  words  of  praise  and  en- 
couragement, and  all  quaint  pet  names  and  endear- 
ments, and  I  charge  said  parents  to  use  them  justly 
and  generously,  as  the  needs  of  their  children  may 
require." 

And  so,  we  ask,  more  especially  the  parent  than 
the  librarian,  is  there  not  excitement  in  the  very 
drawing  out  from  a  child  his  heart's  desire .'  Im- 
perative it  is  in  all  cases  that  book -buying  should  not 
be  a  lottery,  but  more  persistently  apparent  does  it 
become  that  a  child's  one  individual  book  upon  the 
Christmas-tree  or  for  a  birthday  should  not  represent 
a  grown-up's  after-thought. 

Bibliographical  Note 

The  articles  referred  to  in  this  chapter  are: 

Burton,  Richard  ^ — Literature  for  Children.  No.  Amcr. 
167:278  (Sept.,  1898). 

Children's  Book.s  —[From  the  Quarterly  Review.]  Lir. 
Age,  2:1-12  (.\ug.  10,  1844). 

Thwing,  Charles  F. — Sifznificant  Icnorance  About  the  Bible 
as  Shown  Anionic  Colleire  Students  of  Both  Sexes. 
CerUury,  60:123-128  (May,  1900). 


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II.  THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS 

I  wish  Mrs.  Marcet,  the  Right  Honourable  T.  B.  Macau- 
lay,  or  any  other  'person  possessing  universal  knowledge, 
would  take  a  toy  and  child's  emporium  in  hand,  and  ex- 
plain to  us  all  the  geographical  and  historical  wonders  it  con- 
tains. That  Noah's  ark,  with  its  varied  contents — its  leopards 
and  lions,  with  glued  pump-handled  tails;  its  light-blue  ele- 
phants and  l^footed  ducks — that  ark  containing  the  cy- 
lindrical family  of  the  patriarch — was  fashioned  in  Holland, 
most  likely,  by  some  kind  pipe-smoking  friends  of  youth  by 
the  side  of  a  slimy  canal.  A  peasant  in  a  Danubian  pine- 
wood  carved  that  extraordinary  md-cracker,  who  was 
painted  up  at  Nuremberg  afterwards  in  the  costume  of  a 
hideous  hussar.  That  little  fir  lion,  more  like  his  roaring 
original  than  the  lion  at  Barnet,  or  the  lion  of  Northumber- 
land House,  was  cut  by  a  Swiss  shepherd  boy  tending  his 
goats  on  a  mountain-side,  where  the  chamois  loere  jumping 
about  in  their  untanned  leather.  I  have  seen  a  little  Ma- 
hometan on  the  Etmeidan  at  Constantinople  twiddling  about 
just  such  a  whirligig  as  you  may  behold  any  day  in  the 
hands  of  a  small  Parisian  in  the  Tuileries  Gardens.  And 
as  with  the  toys,  so  with  the  toy  books.  They  exist  every- 
vjhere:  there  is  no  calculating  the  distance  through  which 
the  stories  come  to  us,  the  number  of  languages  through 
which  they  have  been  filtered,  or  the  centuries  during  which 
they  have  been  told.  Many  of  them  have  been  narrated, 
almost  in  their  present  shape,  for  thousands  of  years 
since,  to  little  copper-coloured  Sanscrit  children,  lis- 
tening to  their  mother  under  the  palm-trees  by  the  banks 
of  the  yellow  Jumna — their  Brahmin  mother,  who  softly 
narrated  them  through  the  ring  in  her  nose.  The  very 
same  tale  has  been  heard  by  the  Northmen  Vikings  as 

19 


20    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

they  lay  on  their  shields  on  deck;  and  by  Arabs  couched 
under  the  stars  on  the  Syrian  plains  when  the  flocks  were 
gathered  in  and  the  mares  were  picketed  by  the  tents.  With 
regard  to  the  story  of  Cinderella,  I  have  heard  the  late 
Thomas  Hill  say  that  he  remembered  to  have  heard,  two 
years  before  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  came  back  from  Palestine, 
a  Norman  jongleur — bvt,  in  a  word,  there  is  no  end  to  the 
antiquity  of  these  tales.  .  .  ." — '' Michael  Angela  Titmarsh 
on  Some  Illustrated  Children's  Books  "  in  Eraser's  Maga- 
zine for  April,  1846. 

I.  Horn-books;  Chap-books;  The  New  England 
Primer. 

"Previous  to  the  impetus  given  to  child  study 
by  the  educational  theories  of  Rousseau, 
little  was  written  intentionally  for  children  that  would 
not  at  the  same  time  appeal  to  adults.  Yet  there 
are  chapters  still  to  be  penned,  stretching  back  into 
English  history  as  far  as  1430  and  earlier,  when  words 
of  instruction  were  framed  for  youth;  when  conduct, 
formality,  austere  manners,  complete  submission,  were 
not  only  becoming  to  the  child,  but  were  forced  upon 
him.* 

There  are  several  manuscripts  extant  of  that  year, 
1430,  one  whose  authorship  is  ascribed  to  John 
Lydgate  and  which  bears  the  Latin  title,  "Puer  ad 

*  In  "The Child  and  Ilis  Book,"  by  Mrs.  E.  M.  Field  (London: 
Wells  Gardner,  Darton  &  Co.,  IS'J'i),  the  reader  is  referred  to 
chapters:  Before  the  Norman  CoiKjiiest;  Books  from  the  Con- 
quest to  Caxton;  The  Child  in  Enirland,  10G()-Ui40.  Her  re- 
searches form  an  invaluahle  contrilmtion  to  t!ie  history  of  cliil- 
dren's  books,  furnishinfj  sources  for  considerable  speculation. 
Much  is  included  of  interest  to  the  antiquarian  only. 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    21 

Mensam."  There  is  also  the  "Babees  Book"  of 
1475,  intended  for  those  boys  of  royal  blood  who 
served  as  pages  in  the  palace.  The  American  stu- 
dent has  to  reach  an  understanding  of  the  purport 
of  most  of  these  treatises  from  secondary  sources; 
the  manuscripts  are  not  easily  accessible,  and  have 
so  far  been  utilised  only  in  a  fragmentary  character. 
For  the  present  purpose,  the  mention  of  a  few  ex- 
amples will  suffice. 

We  note  "A  Booke  in  Englyssh  metre,  of  the 
great  marchaunt  man  called  Dyves  Pragmaticus, 
very  pretye  for'chyldren  to  rede;  wherby  they  may 
the  better,  and  more  readyer  rede  and  wryte  Wares 
and  Implementes  in  this  worlde  contayned.  .  .  . 
When  thou  sellest  aught  unto  thy  neighbour,  or 
byest  anything  of  him,  deceave  not,  nor  oppresse 
him,  etc.  Imprinted  at  London  in  Aldersgate  strete 
by  Alexander  Lacy,  dwellyng  beside  the  Wall. 
The  XXV.  of  April  11,  15G3."* 

Those  boys  bound  out  or  apprenticed  to  members 
of  the  Middle  Age  crafts  and  guilds  perhaps  benefited 
by  the  moral  of  this;  no  doubt  they  bethought 
themselves  of  the  friendly  warning,  whenever  they 
cried  their  master's  wares  outside  the  stalls ;  perhaps 
they  were  forearmed  as  well  as  forewarned  by  the 
friendly  rules  contained  in  the  "Books  of  Good 
Manners  "  (1560)  w^hich,  though  they  could  not  own, 

*  Thomas  Newberv  was  the  author.  Vide  Fugitive  Tracts, 
1875.     Hazlitt  and  Huth. 


22    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

were  repeated  to  them  by  others  more  fortunate. 
These  same  boys,  who  played  the  angels  in  the 
miracle  plays,  and  the  Innocents  in  the  "  Rachel " 
dramas,  who  were  held  suspended  by  a  rope  high 
up  in  the  nave  of  the  church,  to  proclaim  the  birth 
of  the  Lord  in  the  Christmas  cycles,  were  actors  also, 
around  1563,  in  "A  New  Enterlude  for  Chyldren  to 
Play,  named  Jacke  Jugeler,  both  wytte,  and  very 
playscnt." 

Fundamentally,  the  boys  of  the  early  centuries 
must  have  been  not  unlike  the  boys  of  all  ages, 
although  the  customs  of  an  age  usually  stunt  what- 
ever is  not  in  conformity  with  the  times.  He  who, 
in  1572,  was  warned  in  "Youth's  Behaviour  "  ("or. 
Decency  in  Conversation  Amongst  Men,  Composed 
in  French  by  Grave  Persons,  for  the  use  and  benefit 
of  their  youth,  now  newly  turned  into  English,  by 
Francis  Hawkins,  nephew  to  Sir  Thomas  Hawkins. 
The  tenth  impression."),  was  likewise  warned  in 
the  New-England  township,  and  needs  to  be  warned 
to-day.  No  necessity  to  paint  the  picture  in  more 
definite  colours  than  those  emanating  from  the  man- 
dates direct.  "  Hearing  thy  Master,  or  likewise  the 
Preacher,  wriggle  not  thyself,  as  seeming  unable  to 
contain  thyself  within  thy  skin."  Uncomfortable 
in  frills  or  stiff  collars,  and  given  no  backs  to  benches, 
the  child  was  doomed  to  a  dreary  sermon  full  of 
brimstone  and  fire;  he  was  expected,  "in  yawning, 
[to]  howl  not."     The  translation,  it  will  be  remarked, 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    23 

was  made  by  Master  Francis  when  he  had  scarce 
attained  the  age  of  eight;  this  may  be  considered  pre- 
cocious, but,  when  French  was  more  the  official 
language  than  English,  it  was  necessary  that  all 
persons  of  any  distinction  should  have  a  mastery  of 
the  polite  tongue,  even  though  they  might  remain 
not  so  well  equipped  in  the  language  of  learning.* 
Hawkins  was  therefore  carefully  exercised  and  the 
translation  became  a  task  in  a  twofold  way.  His 
uncle  soon  followed  the  first  section  of  "Youth's 
Behaviour"  with  a  second  part,  intended  for  girls. 

Poor  starv'ed  souls  of  those  young  gentlewomen  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  who  were  recommended,  for 
their  entertainment  in  hours  of  recreation,  to  read 
"God's  Revenge  against  Murther;  and  the  Arcadia 
of  Sir  Philip  Sydney;  Artemidorus,  his  Interpreta- 
tion of  Dreams.  And  for  the  business  of  their 
devotion,  there  is  an  excellent  book  entitled  Taylor's 
Holy  Living  and  Dying ;  The  Duty  of  Man  in  which 
the  Duty  to  God  and  man  are  both  comprehended." 
Such  guidance  is  not  peculiar  alone  to  this  period. 
It  was  followed,  in  slightly  simplified  form,  through- 
out the  didactic  school  of  writing. 

Fortunately  we  are  able,  by  means  of  our  histor- 
ical imagination,  to  fill  up  the  interstices  of  this 
grave  assemblage  with  something  of  a  more  entertain- 

*  As  early  as  1262,  the  macaronic  style  of  delivering  sermons 
was  customary.  The  gradual  substitution  of  the  vernacular  for 
Latin  is  dealt  with  in  the  introduction  to  the  present  author's 
edition  of  "Everj-man,"  1903,  xxvii. 


24    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

ing  character;  we  have  a  right  to  include  the  folk 
tales,  the  local  legends  and  hero  deeds  which  have 
descended  to  us  through  countless  telling.  Romance 
and  interest  still  lie  buried  in  annals  which  might 
be  gathered  together,  dealing  with  the  lives  of  those 
nurses  who  reared  ancient  kings.  As  a  factor  in 
the  early  period  of  children's  literature,  the  grandam 
is  of  vast  meaning. 

About  the  time  of  which  we  have  just  been  speak- 
ing, as  early  as  1570,  little  folks  began  learning  their 
letters  from  horn-books  and  "  battle-dores."  Take 
an  abacus  frame  and  transfer  the  handle  to  one  of 
its  sides  as  a  base.  Within  the  frame  insert  a  single 
leaf  of  thick  cardboard,  on  one  side  of  which  place 
the  alphabet,  large  and  small,  lettered  heavily  in 
black.  Then,  with  the  regularity  of  a  regiment, 
string  out  three  or  four  slender  columns  of  mono- 
syllables. Do  we  not  here  detect  the  faint  glim- 
mer of  our  college  song,  "b-a,  ba;  b-e,  be;  b-i, 
bi ;  babebi "  ?  Should  one  side  not  hold  all  this,  use 
both,  although  it  is  not  preferable  to  do  so.  How- 
ever, it  is  essential  that  ample  room  be  left  in  any 
case  for  the  inclusion  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  When 
this  is  done,  slip  over  the  face  of  the  cardboard  a 
clear  piece  of  diaphanous  horn,  in  default  of  which 
isinglass  will  suffice.  Through  the  handle  bore  a 
hole,  into  which  run  a  string.  Finally,  attach  your 
handiwork  to  a  girdle  or  belt,  and  behold,  you  arc 
transformed  into  a  school  child  of  the  Middle  Ages ! 


THE  RISE  OP  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    25 

Your  abacus  has  become  a  horn-book,  quite  as 
much  by  reason  of  its  horn  surface,  as  because  of 
its  essential  use.  Should  you  be  looking  for  histor- 
ical accuracy,  let  the  "Christ-cross"  precede  the 
alphabet,  whence  it  will  become  apparent  why  our 
letters  are  often  styled  the  Criss-cross  row.  Flour- 
ishing until  some  time  during  the  reign  of  George 
II,  these  curiosities  are  now  rare  indeed.  There  is 
little  of  an  attractive  nature  in  such  a  "  lesson-book," 
but  childhood  had  its  compensations,  for  there  is 
preserved  the  cheerful  news  that  horn-books  were 
often  made  of  gingerbread.  Were  these  the  fore- 
bears of  our  animal  crackers  or  our  spiced  alphabets  ? 
A  survey  of  chap-books  *  presents  a  picture  of 
literature  tiying  to  be  popular;  we  find  all  classes 
of  people  being  catered  to,  young  and  old,  rich  and 
poor.     The    multitude    of   assorted   pamphlets   re- 

*  Chap  =  An  abbreviation  of  Chapman,  which  seems  to  have 
come  into  vulgar  use  in  the  end  of  the  16th  c;  but  it  is  rare  in 
books,  even  in  tlie  dramatists,  before  1700.  It  was  not  recog- 
nised by  Johnson.  1577  Breton  Toyes  Idle  Head  (Grosart). 
Those  crusty  chaps  I  cannot  love.  a.  A  buyer,  purchaser, 
customer. 

Chap-book  =  f .  chap  in  Chapman  -|-  Book.  A  modern  name 
applied  by  book  collectors  and  others  to  specimens  of  the  pop- 
ular literature  which  was  formerly  circulated  by  itinerant  deal- 
ers or  chapmen,  consisting  chiefly  of  small  pamphlets  of  popular 
tales,  etc.  1824  Dibdin  Libr.  Comp.  It  is  a  chap-book,  printed 
in  rather  neat  black  letter.  1882  J.  Asitton  Chap-books,  18th 
Century  in  Athenanim  2  Sept.  302/1.   Agreat  mass  of  chap-books. 

Chapsian  =  [OE.  Ceapmann  =  OHG.  Choufman  (OHG., 
MHG.  Ivoufman),  Ger.  Kaufmann.]  A  man  whose  business 
is  buying  and  selling:  a  merchant,  trader,  dealer.  Vide  890  K. 
Alfred  Bceda.  Vide  further,  A  New  English  Dictionary. 
Murray,  Oxford. 


26    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

fleets  the  manners,  the  superstitions,  the  popular 
customs  of  rustics;  the  stories  stretch  from  the 
humourous  to  the  strictly  reUgious  type.  There  are 
many  examples  preserved,  for  not  until  well  on  in 
the  nineteenth  century  were  chap-books  supplanted 
in  favour.  To-day,  the  largest  collection  that  the 
world  possesses,  garnered  by  Professor  Child,  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Harvard  University  Library;  but 
the  Bodleian  and  the  British  Museum  claim  to  be 
richer  in  early  examples,  extending  back  to  1598. 

Charles  Gerring,  calling  the  chap-books  "unin- 
viting, poor,  starved  things,"  yet  lays  before  readers 
not  an  unwholesome  array  of  goods.     He  writes: 

"  For  the  lads,  there  were  tales  of  action,  of  adven- 
ture, sometimes  truculently  sensational;  for  the 
girls  were  stories  of  a  more  domestic  character; 
for  the  tradesmen,  there  was  the  'King  and  the 
Cobbler,'  or  '  Long  Tom  the  Carrier ';  for  the  soldier 
and  the  sailor, 'Admiral  Blake,'  'Johnny  Armstrong,' 
and  'Che^y  Chase';  for  the  lovers,  'Patient  Grissil' 
and  'Delights  for  Young  Men  and  Maids';  for  the 
servung-lad,  'Tom  Hickathrift '  *  and  'Sir  Richard 
"NVliittington';  while  the  serving-maid  then,  as  now, 
would  prefer  'The  Egj-ptian  Fortune  Teller,'  or 
'The  Interpretation  of  Dreams  and  ]Moles.'  " 

Every  phase  of  human  nature  was  thus  served  up 

for  a  penny.     In  those  days,  people  were  more  apt 

*  "The  History  of  Tom  Ilickathrift"  is  regarded  ns  distinctively 
Ei!p;li.sh;  its  literary  qualities  were  likened  by  Thackeray  to 
Fielding.     Vide  Fraser's  Magazine. 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    27 

to  want  tales  with  heroes  and  heroines  of  their  own 
rank  and  station;  a  certain  appropriateness  in  this 
way  was  satisfied.  Such  correspondence  was  com- 
mon as  early  as  1415,  when  a  mystery  play  was 
presented  by  the  crafts,  and  the  Plasterers  were 
given  the  "  Creation  of  the  World  "  to  depict,  while 
the  Chandlers  were  assigned  the  "Lighting  of  the 
Star  "  upon  the  birth  of  Christ. 

There  were  to  be  had  primers,  song-books,  and 
joke-books;  histories,  stories,  and  hero  tales. 
Printed  in  type  to  ruin  eyes,  pictured  in  wood-cuts 
to  startle  fancy  and  to  shock  taste — for  they  were  not 
always  suited  to  childhood — these  pamphlets,  21"  x 
3¥\  sometimes  5Y'  x  Aj"  in  size,  and  composed  of 
from  four  to  twenty-four  pages,  served  a  useful 
purpose.  They  placed  literature  within  reach  of 
all  who  could  read.  Queer  dreams,  piety  of  a  pro- 
nounced nature,  jests  with  a  ribald  meaning,  and 
riddles  comprised  the  content  of  many  of  them.  A 
child  who  could  not  buy  a  horn-book  turned  to  the 
"  battle-dore "  with  his  penny — a  crude  sheet  of 
cardboard,  bicoloured  and  folded  either  once  or 
twice,  with  printing  on  both  sides;  the  reading  mat- 
ter was  never-failingly  the  same  in  these  horn-books 
and  "  battle-dores,"  although  sometimes  the  wood- 
cuts varied.  A  horn-book  is  recorded  with  a  pic- 
ture of  Charles  I  upon  it. 

The  sixteenth  or  seventeenth-century  boy  could  own 
his  "  Jack  and  the  Giants  "  and  "  Guy  of  Warwick," 


28     CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

his  "Hector  of  Troy"  and  "Hercules  of  Greece"; 
he  could  even  have  the  latest  imported  novelty. 
Some  believe  that  because  Shakespeare  based  many 
of  his  plays  upon  Continental  legends,  a  demand 
was  started  for  such  chap-books  as  "  Fortunatus," 
"Titus  Andronicus,"  or  "Valentine  and  Orson." 
The  printers  of  these  crude  booklets  were  on  tlie 
alert  for  every  form  of  writing  having  a  popular 
appeal;  there  was  rivalry  among  them  as  there  is 
rivalry  among  publishers  to-day.  Not  long  after 
the  appearance  of  the  English  translation  of  Per- 
rault's  "Tales  of  Mother  Goose,"  each  one  of  them, 
given  a  separate  and  attractive  form — "  Blue-beard  " 
in  awful  ferocity,  "Cinderella"  in  gorgeous  apparel, 
and  the  others — was  made  into  a  chap-book.  In 
Ashton,  we  find  mention  of  an  early  catalogue  "  of 
Maps,  Prints,  Copy-books,  Drawing-books,  Histo- 
ries, Old  Ballads,  Patters,  Collections,  etc.,  printed 
and  sold  by  Cluer  Dicey  and  Richard  Marshall  at 
the  Printing-Office  in  Aldermary  (4)  Church  Yard, 
Ixjndon.  Printed  in  the  year  MDCCLXIV." 
These  men  appear  to  have  been  important  chap- 
book  publishers. 

The  hawkers,  who  went  through  the  streets  and 
who  travelled  the  country-side,  much  as  our  pioneer 
traders  were  accustomed  to  do,  were  termed  chapmen. 
They  were  eloquent  in  the  manner  of  describing 
their  display;  they  were  zealous  as  to  their  line  of 
trade.     Imagine,  if   you   will,    the    scene    in    some 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    29 

isolated  village — the  wild  excitement  when  the  good 
man  arrived.  He  was  known  to  Piers  Plowman 
in  1362,  he  perhaps  wandered  not  far  away  from 
the  Canterbury  Pilgrims;  each  of  Chaucer's  Tales 
might  well  be  fashioned  as  a  chap-book.  Along 
the  dusty  highway  this  old-time  peddler  travelled, 
with  packet  on  his  back  and  a  stout  staff  in  hand — 
such  a  character  maybe  as  Dougal  Grahame,  hunch- 
backed and  cross-eyed — by  professions,  a  town  crier 
and  bellman,  as  well  as  a  trader  in  literature.  On 
his  tongue's  tip  he  carried  the  latest  gossip;  he 
served  as  an  instrument  of  cross-fertilisation,  bring- 
ing London-town  in  touch  with  Edinburgh  or  Glas- 
gow, and  with  small  hamlets  on  the  way. 

"Do  you  wish  to  know,  my  lady,"  he  would  ask, 
"  how  fares  the  weather  on  the  morrow  ? "  From 
the  depths  of  his  packet  he  would  draw  "  The  Shep- 
herd's Prognostication"  (1673),  wherein  is  told  that 
"the  blust'ring  and  noise  of  leaves  and  trees  and 
woods,  or  other  places  is  a  token  of  foul  weather." 
"And  prithee,  mistress,"  he  would  add,  "I  have  a 
warning  herein  for  you.  A  mole  on  the  forehead 
denotes  fair  riches,  but  yonder  brown  spot  on  your 
eyebrow  bids  me  tell  you  to  refrain  from  marriage, 
for  if  he  marry  you,  he  shall  have  seven  wives  in  his 
life-time ! " 

Many  a  modern  reader  would  be  interested  in  the 
detailed  directions  given  for  falling  in  love  and  for 
falling  out  again;    for  determining  whom  fate  had 


30    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

decreed  as  the  husband,  or  who  was  to  be  the  wife. 
It  is  more  wholesome  in  these  days  to  name  the  four 
corners  of  a  bedroom  than  to  submit  to  the  charm 
of  a  pared  onion,  wrapped  in  a  kerchief  and  placed 
on  the  pillow;  yet  the  two  methods  must  be 
related. 

For  the  little  ones,  there  were  picture-books  in 
bright  colours,  smug  in  their  anachronisms.  The 
manufacturers  of  chap-books  never  hesitated  to  use 
the  same  wood-cuts  over  and  over  again;  Queen  Anne 
might  figure  in  a  history,  but  she  served  as  well  in  the 
capacity  of  Sleeping  Beauty;  more  appropriate  in 
its  historical  application  seems  to  have  been  the 
appearance  of  Henry  VIII  as  Jack  the  Giant-Killer. 

The  subject  of  chap-books  is  alluring;  the  few 
elements  here  noted  suggest  how  rich  in  local  colour 
the  material  is.  Undoubtedly  the  roots  of  juvenile 
literature  are  firmly  twined  about  these  penny 
sheets.  Their  circulation  is  a  matter  that  brings 
the  social  student  in  touch  with  the  middle-class  life. 
Not  only  the  chap-books  and  the  horn-books,  but 
the  so-called  Garlands,  rudimentary  anthologies  of 
popular  poems  and  spirited  ballads,  served  to  relieve 
the  drudgery  of  commonplace  lives,  toned  the  slug- 
gish mind  by  quickening  the  imagination.  A  curi- 
ous part  of  the  history  of  these  Garlands  is  their 
sudden  disappearance,  brought  about  by  two  types 
of  hawkers,  known  as  the  "  Primers-up  "  and  "  Long- 
Song  Sellers,"  who  peddled  a  new  kind  of  ware. 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    31 

The  Primers-up  are  relatives  of  our  city  venders. 
They  ching  to  corners,  where  dead  walls  gave  them 
opportunity  to  pin  their  literature  within  sight  of 
the  public.  Wherever  there  happened  to  be  an 
unoccupied  house,  one  of  these  fellows  would  be 
found  with  his  songs,  coarse,  sentimental,  and 
spirited,  cut  in  slips  a  yard  long — three  yards  for  a 
penny.  Thus  displayed,  he  would  next  open  a 
gaudy  umbrella,  upon  the  under  side  of  wliich  an 
art  gallery  of  cheap  prints  was  free  to  look  upon. 
Conjure  up  for  yourselves  the  apprentice  peering 
beneath  the  large  circumference  of  such  a  gingham 
tent. 

Across  the  way,  the  Long-Song  Sellers  marched 
up  and  down,  holding  aloft  stout  poles,  from 
which  streamed  varied  ribbons  of  verse — rhythm 
fluttering  in  the  breeze — and  yelling,  "Three 
yards  a  penny,  songs,  beautiful  songs,  nooest 
songs." 

It  is  apparent  that  much  of  the  horn-book  is  incor- 
porated in  the  "New  England  Primer,"  although 
the  development  of  the  latter  may  be  considered 
independently.  The  Primer  is  an  indispensable  part 
of  Puritan  history  in  America,  despite  the  fact  that 
its  source  extends  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Henry 
VIII,  when  it  was  probably  regarded  more  in  the 
light  of  a  devotional  than  of  an  educational  book. 
The  earliest  mention  of  it  in  New  England  was  that 
published    in  the  Boston    Almanac   of    1G91,   when 


32    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Benjamin  Harris,  bookseller  and  printer,  called 
attention  to  its  second  impression.*  Before  that,  in 
1685,  Samuel  Green,  a  Boston  printer,  issued  a 
primer  which  he  called  "The  Protestant  Teacher 
for  Children,"  and  a  copy  of  which  may  be  seen  in 
the  libraiy  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society 
of  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  The  title  would  indi- 
cate also  that  in  America  the  primer  for  children  at 
first  served  the  same  purpose  as  the  morality  play 
for  adults  in  England;  it  was  a  vehicle  for  religious 
instruction. 

The  oldest  existent  copy  of  the  New  England 
Primer  bears  the  imprint  of  Thomas  Fleet,  son-in- 
law  of  the  famous  Mrs.  Goose,  of  whom  we  shall 
speak  later.  This  was  in  1737.  Before  then,  in 
1708,  Benjamin  Eliot  of  Boston,  probably  encouraged 
by  earlier  editions  of  primers,  advertised  "  The  First 
Book  for  Children;  or,  The  Compleat  School- 
Mistress";  and  Timothy  Green  in  1715  announced 
"A  Primer  for  the  Colony  of  Connecticut;  or,  an 
Introduction  to  the  True  Reading  of  English.  To 
which  is  added  Milk  for  Babes."  This  latter  title 
suggests  the  name  of  the  Reverend  John  Cotton, 
and,  furthermore,  the  name  of  Cotton  Mather,  one 

*  The  notice  ran  ns  follows:  "  Advertisement:  There  is  now  in 
the  Press,  and  will  suddenly  be  extant,  a  Second  Impression  of 
The  Neiv  England  Primer,  enlarged,  to  which  is  added,  mcjre 
Directions  for  Spelling;  the  Prayer  of  K.  Edward  the  Gth,  and 
Verses  made  by  Air.  Rogers,  the  Martyr,  left  as  a  Legacy  to  his 
Children.  Sold  by  Benjamin  Harris,  at  the  London  Coffec-IIouse 
in  Boston." 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    33 

of  the  austere  writers,  as  the  titles  of  his  books  alone 
bear  witness. 

Six  copies  of  the  New  England  Primer  lay  before 
me,  brown  paper  covers,  dry  with  age;  blue  boards, 
worn  with  much  handling;  others  in  gray  and  green 
that  have  faded  like  the  age  which  gave  them  birth. 
The  boy  who  brought  them  to  me  wore  a  broad 
smile  upon  his  face ;  perhaps  he  was  wondering  why 
I  wished  such  toy  books,  no  larger  than  3|"  x  2^". 
He  held  them  all  in  one  hand  so  as  to  show  his  superior 
strength.  Yet  had  he  been  taken  into  the  dark 
corridor  between  the  book  stacks,  and  had  he  been 
shown  the  contents  of  those  crinkly  leaves,  there 
might  have  crept  over  him  some  remnant  of  the 
feeling  of  awe  which  must  have  seized  the  Colonial 
boy  and  girl.  What  would  he  have  thought  of  the 
dutiful  child's  promises,  or  of  the  moral  precepts,  had 
they  been  read  to  him  ?  Would  he  have  shrunk 
backward  at  the  description  of  the  bad  boy? 
Would  he  have  beamed  with  youthful  hope  of  salva- 
tion upon  the  picture  of  the  good  boy  ?  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  the  naughty  girls,  called  "  hussies,"  ever 
reformed;  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  ever  wanted 
to  be  the  good  girl  of  the  verses.  That  smiling  boy 
of  the  present  would  have  turned  grave  over  the  cut 
of  Mr.  John  Rogers  in  the  flames,  despite  the  placid 
expression  of  wonderful  patience  over  the  martyr's 
face;  his  knees  would  have  trembled  at  the  sombre 
meaning  of  the  lines : 


34    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

"  I  in  the  burial  place  may  see 
Graves  shorter  far  than  I; 
From  death's  arrest  no  age  is  free. 
Young  children  too  may  die." 

The  New  England  Primers  *  were  called  pleasant 
guides;  they  taught  that  the  longest  life  is  a  lingering 
death.  There  was  the  fear  instead  of  the  love  of 
God  in  the  text,  and  yet  the  type  of  manhood  fostered 
by  such  teaching  was  no  wavering  type,  no  half-way 
spirit.  The  Puritan  travelled  the  narrow  road,  but 
he  faced  it,  however  dark  the  consequences. 

Sufficient  has  been  said  to  give  some  idea  of  the 
part  occupied  by  these  early  publications — whether 
horn-book,  chap-book,  or  primer.  They  bore  an 
intimate  relation  to  the  life  of  the  child;  they  were, 
together  with  the  Almanack,  which  is  typified  by 
that  of  "Poor  Richard,"  and  with  the  Calendar, 
part  of  a  development  which  may  be  traced,  with 
equal  profit,  in  England,  Scotland,  France,  and 
Germany.  Their  full  liistory  is  fraught  with  human 
significance. 

II.  La  Fontaine  and  Perrault. 

Folk-lore  stretches  into  the  Valhalla  of  the  past; 

our  heritage  consists  of  an  assemblage  of  the  heroic 

♦Three  typical  examples  of  later  reprints  are:  The  N.  E. 
Primer,  Walpolc,  N.  II.,  I.  Thomas  &  Co.,  1814;  The  N.  E. 
Primer  Improved  for  the  More  Ea.sy  Attaininj^  the  True  Reading 
of  English.  To  which  is  added  The  Assembly  of  Divines  and 
Episcopal  Catechisms,  N.  Y.,  181.5;  The  N.,E.  Primer. or  an  Easy 
and  Pleasant  Guide  to  the  Art  of  Reading,  Mass.  Sabbath  School 
Soc.,  18-11. 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    35 

through  all  ages.  A  history  of  distinctive  books  for 
children  must  enter  into  minute  traceries  of  the 
golden  thread  of  legend,  fable,  and  belief,  of  romance 
and  adventure;  it  must  tell  of  the  wanderings  of 
rhyme  and  marvel,  under  varied  disguises,  from 
mouth  to  mouth,  from  country  to  country,  naught 
of  richness  being  taken  away  from  them,  much  of 
new  glory  being  added.  But  for  our  immediate 
purposes,  we  imagine  all  this  to  be  so;  we  take  it 
for  granted  that  courtier  and  peasant  have  had  their 
fancies.  The  tales  told  to  warriors  are  told  to 
children,  and  in  turn  by  nurses  to  these  children's 
children.  The  knight  makes  his  story  by  his  own 
action  in  the  dark  forest,  or  in  the  king's  palace; 
he  appears  before  the  hut  of  the  serf,  and  his  horse  is 
encircled  by  a  magic  light.  The  immortal  hero  is 
kept  immortal  by  what  is  heroic  in  ourselves. 

Jean  de  La  Fontaine  (1621-1695)  was  a  product 
of  court  life;  and  the  fable  was  the  literary  form 
introduced  to  amuse  the  corsaged  ladies  of  Versailles. 
La  Fontaine  was  the  cynic  in  an  age  of  hypocrisy  and 
favouritism,  and  one  cannot  estimate  his  work  fully, 
apart  from  the  social  conditions  fostering  it.  He 
was  steeped  in  French  lore,  and  in  a  knowledge 
of  the  popular  tales  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  was 
licentious  in  some  of  his  writing,  and  wild  in  his 
living;  he  was  a  friend  of  Fouquet,  and  he  knew 
Moliere,  Racine,  and  Boileau.  He  was  a  brilliant, 
unpractical  satirist,  who  had  to  be  supported  by  his 


36    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

friends,  and  who  was  elected  to  the  Academy  be- 
cause his  monarch  announced  pubHcly  that  he  had 
promised  to  behave.  Toward  the  end  of  his  Hfe  he 
atoned  for  his  misdemeanours  by  a  formal  confession. 

There  was  much  of  the  child  heart  in  La  Fontaine, 
and  this  characteristic,  together  with  the  spleen 
which  develops  in  every  courtier,  aided  him  in  his 
composition  of  the  Fables.  Unclean  his  tales  may 
be,  likened  to  Boccaccio,  but  the  true  poet  in  him 
produced  incomparable  verses  which  have  been  saved 
for  the  present  and  will  live  far  into  the  future  be- 
cause of  the  universality  of  their  moral.  The  wolf 
and  dog,  the  grasshopper  and  ant,  all  moved  in  silks 
and  satins  at  the  court  of  Louis  XIV,  and  bowed 
for  social  rank,  some  trailing  their  pride  in  the  dust, 
others  raised  to  high  position  through  the  fortune  of 
unworthy  favour.  So  successfully  did  La  Fontaine 
paint  liis  pictures  that  the  veiled  allusions  became 
lost  in  time  beneath  the  distinct  individuality  of 
the  courtiers'  animal  prototypes.  The  universal  in 
La  Fontaine  is  like  the  universal  in  ]\Ioliere  and 
Shakespeare,  but  it  has  a  wider  appeal,  for  children 
relish  it  as  their  own. 

Another  figure  was  dominant  at  the  court  of 
Louis  XIV — one  equally  as  immortal  as  lia  Fontaine, 
though  not  so  generally  known — Charles  Pcrrault 
(1628-1703).  He  was  a  brilliant  genius,  versatile  in 
talent  and  genial  in  temper.  He  dabbled  in  law,  he 
dabbled  in  architecture,  and  through  it  won  the  favour 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    37 

of  Colbert.  With  an  abiding  love  for  children,  he 
suggested  and  successfully  carried  the  idea  of  keep- 
ing open  the  royal  gardens  for  young  Parisians. 
Through  Colbert  he  became  an  Academician  in 
1671,  and,  with  the  energy  which  usually  marked  his 
actions,  he  set  about  influencing  the  rulings  of  that 
body.  He  was  a  man  of  progress,  not  an  advocate 
of  classical  formalism.  He  battled  long  and  hard 
with  Boileau,  who  was  foremost  among  the  Clas- 
sicists ;  his  appeal  was  for  the  future  rather  than  for 
the  past.  He  was  intellectually  alert  in  all  matters; 
probably,  knowing  that  he  possessed  considerable 
hold  upon  the  Academy,  he  purposely  startled  that 
august  gathering  by  his  statement  that  had  Homer 
lived  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV  he  would  have  made 
a  better  poet.  But  the  declaration  was  like  a  burning 
torch  set  to  dry  wood;  Boileau  blazed  forth,  and 
the  fight  between  himself  and  Perrault,  lasting  some 
time,  became  one  of  the  most  famous  literary  quar- 
rels that  mark  the  pages  of  history. 

After  Perrault  retired  to  his  home  in  the  year  1686, 
and  when  he  could  have  his  children  around  him, 
he  began  the  work  which  was  destined  to  last. 
Lang  calls  him  "  a  good  man,  a  good  father,  a  good 
Christian,  and  a  good  fellow."  It  is  in  the  capacity 
of  father  that  we  like  to  view  him — taking  an  interest 
in  the  education  of  his  children,  listening  to  them 
tell  their  tales  which  they  had  first  heard  from  their 
nurse;  his  heart  became  warmed  by  their  frank,  free 


38    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

camaraderie,  and  it  is  likely  that  these  impromptu 
story  hours  awakened  in  him  some  dim  memories  of 
the  same  legends  told  him  in  his  boyhood. 

There  is  interesting  speculation  associated  with 
his  writing  of  the  "Contes  de  ma  Mere  I'Oye." 
They  were  published  in  1697,  although  previously 
they  had  appeared  singly  in  Moetjen's  Magazine  at 
the  Hague.  An  early  letter  from  Madame  de 
Se^^gne  mentions  the  wide-spread  delight  taken  by 
the  nobles  of  the  court  in  all  "contes";  this  was 
some  twenty  years  before  Pcrrault  penned  his. 
But  despite  their  popularity  among  the  worldly  wise, 
the  Academician  was  too  much  of  an  Academician 
to  confess  openly  that  he  was  the  author  of  the 
"contes."  Instead,  he  ascribed  them  to  his  son, 
Perrault  Darmancour.  This  has  raised  consider- 
able doubt  among  scholars  as  to  whether  the  boy 
should  really  be  held  responsible  for  the  authorship 
of  the  book.  Mr.  Lang  wisely  infers  that  there  is 
much  evidence  throughout  the  tales  of  the  mature 
feeling  and  art  of  Perrault;  but  he  also  is  content 
to  hold  to  the  theory  that  will  blend  the  effort  of  old 
age  and  youth,  of  father  and  son. 

The  fact  remains  that,  were  it  not  for  Perrault, 
the  world  might  have  been  less  rich  by  such  immortal 
pieces  as  "The  Three  Wishes,"  "The  Sleeping 
Beauty,"  "Red  Riding  Hood,"  "Blue  Beard," 
"Puss  in  Boots,"  and  "Cinderella,"  as  they  are 
known  to  us  to-day.     They  might  have  reached  us 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    39 

from  other  countries  In  modified  form,  but  the  in- 
imitable pattern  belongs  to  Perrault. 

Another  monument  preserves  his  name,  the  dis- 
cussion of  which  requires  a  section  by  itself.  But 
consideration  must  be  paid  in  passing  to  the  "fees  "  of 
Marie  Catherine  Jumelle  de  Berne ville,  Comtesse 
D'Anois  (Aulnoy)  [1650  or  51-1705],  who  is  respon- 
sible for  such  tales  as  "  Finetta,  the  Cinder-Girl."  * 
Fortunately,  to  the  charm  of  her  fairy  stories,  which 
are  written  in  no  mean  imitation  of  Perrault,  there 
have  clung  none  of  the  qualities  which  made  her  one 
of  the  most  intriguing  women  of  her  period.  She 
herself  possessed  a  magnetic  personality  and  a 
bright  wit.  Her  married  life  began  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  and  through  her  career  lovers  flocked  to  her 
standard;  because  of  the  ardour  of  one,  she  came 
near  losing  her  head.  But  despite  the  fact  that  only 
two  out  of  five  of  her  children  could  claim  legitimacy, 
they  seem  to  have  developed  in  the  Comtesse  d'Aul- 
noy  an  unmistakable  maternal  instinct,  and  an 
unerring  judgment  in  the  narration  of  stories.  She 
is  familiar  to-day  because  of  her  tales,  although 
recently  an  attractive  edition  of  her  "Spanish  Im- 
pressions "  was  issued — a  book  which  once  received 
the  warm  commendation  of  Taine. 

*  Another  writer  of  Conies  des  fees  was  Mme.  Jeanne  Marie  Le 
Prince  de  Beaumont  (1711-1780),  author  of  "Magasins  des  En- 
fans,  des  Adolescens  et  des  Dames." 


40   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

III.  Mother  Goose. 

There  has  been  a  sentimental  desire  on  the  part 
of  many  students  to  trace  the  origin  of  Mother  Goose 
to  this  country ;  but  despite  all  effort  to  the  contrary, 
and  a  false  identification  of  Thomas  Fleet's  mother- 
in-law,  Mrs.  Goose,  or  Vergoose,  with  the  famous 
old  woman,  the  origin  is  indubitably  French. 
William  H.  Whitmore  *  sums  up  his  evidence  in 
the  matter  as  follows: 

"According  to  my  present  knowledge,  I  feel 
sure  that  the  original  name  is  merely  a  translation 
from  the  French;  that  the  collection  was  first  made 
for  and  by  John  Newbery  of  London,  about  a.d. 
1760;  and  that  the  great  popularity  of  the  book  is 
due  to  the  Boston  editions  of  Munroe  and  Francis, 
A.D.  1824-18G0." 

It  ap})ears  that,  in  1870,  William  A.  Wheeler 
edited  an  edition  of  "Mother  Goose,"  wherein  he 
averred  that  Elizabeth,  widow  of  one  Isaac  Ver- 
goose, was  the  sole  originator  of  the  jingles.  This 
statement  was  based  upon  the  assurances  of  a  de- 
scendant, John  Fleet  Eliot.  But  there  is  much 
stronger  evidence   in   Perrault's  favour   than   mere 

*  The  Orij:;iiial  Mother  Goose's  Melody,  as  first  issued  bv  John 
Newbery,  of  London,  about  A.D.  17G0.  Reproduced  in  jac- 
simile  from  the  edition  as  reprinted  by  Isaiah  Thomas,  of  Worces- 
ter, Mass.,  about  a.d.  178.5.  With  Introductory  Notes  bv  WilHam 
H.  W'hitmore.  Albany,  Munsell,  1889.  [Vide  N.  E.  Ilist.  and 
Geneal.  Regi.st.,  1873,' pp.  144,  311;  Proceed.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc., 
Oct..  1888,  p.  40(3.] 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    41 

hearsay;  even  the  statement  that  a  1719  volume  of 
the  melodies  was  printed  by  Fleet  himself  has  so 
far  failed  of  verification, 

The  name,  Mother  Goose,  is  first  heard  of  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  During  1697,  Perrault  pub- 
lished his  "Histoircs  ou  Contes  du  Tems  Passe 
avec  des  Moralitez,"  with  a  frontispiece  of  an  old 
woman  telling  stories  to  an  interested  group.  Upon 
a  placard  by  her  side  was  lettered  the  significant 
title  already  quoted: 

CONTES 

DE  MA 

MERE 

LOYE 

There  is  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  the  name  was  not 
of  Boston  origin ;  some  would  even  go  further  back 
and  mingle  French  legend  with  history;  they  would 
claim  that  the  mother  of  Charlemagne,  with  the 
title  of  Queen  Goose-foot  (Reine  Pedance),  was 
the  only  true  source.* 

Mr.  Austin  Dobson  has  called  Mr.  Lang's  attention 
to  the  fact  that  in  the  Monthly  Chronicle  for  March, 
1729,  an  English  version  of  Perrault's  "Tales"  was 
mentioned,  done  by  Mr.  Robert  Samber,  and  printed 

*  Lang  saj's  the  term  MotJier  Goose  appears  in  Loret's  "La 
Muse  Histqrique"  (Lettrev.,  11  Juin,  1650).  Vide  also  Deulin, 
Charles — Les  Contes  de  Ma  INIere  L'Ove,  avant  Perrault.  Paris, 
1878;   and  Halliwell,  J.  O.— Percy  Society. 


42    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

by  J.  Pote;  another  English  edition  appeared  at 
The  Hague  in  1745.  This  seems  to  be  the  first 
introduction  into  England  of  the  "Mother  Goose 
Fairy  Tales."  It  was  probably  their  popularity, 
due  not  only  to  their  intrinsic  interest,  but  partly 
to  the  speculation  as  to  Mother  Goose's  identification, 
that  made  John  Newbery,  the  famous  London  pub- 
lisher, conceive  the  brilliant  plan  of  gathering  to- 
gether those  little  songs  familiar  to  the  nursery, 
and  of  laying  them  to  the  credit  of  Mother  Goose 
herself.  In  so  doing,  he  solicited  the  assistance 
of  Oliver  Goldsmith  (1728-1774).  Mr.  Whitmore 
writes : 

"If,  as  seems  most  probable,  the  first  edition  of 
*  Mother  Goose's  IVIelody '  was  issued  prior  to  John 
Newbery's  death  in  17G7,  there  is  an  interesting 
question  as  to  who  prepared  the  collection  for  the 
press.  The  rhymes  are  avowedly  the  favourites  of 
the  nursery,  but  the  preface  and  the  foot-notes  are 
an  evident  burlesque  upon  more  pretentious  works." 

There  arc  two  small  pieces  of  evidence  indicating 
clearly  Goldsmith's  editorship.  On  January  29, 
1768,  he  produced  his  "Good  Natur'd  ■Man,"  and 
with  his  friends  dined  beforehand  in  gala  fashion  at 
an  inn.  Subject  to  extremes  of  humour,  on  this 
occasion  he  was  most  noisy,  and  he  sang  his  favourite 
song,  we  are  told,  which  was  nothing  more  than  "An 
old  woman  tossed  in  a  blanket,  seventeen  times  as 
high  as  the  moon."     As  it  happens,   this    ditty   is 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    43 

mentioned  in  the  preface  to  Newbery's  collection  of 
rhymes,  without  any  more  apparent  reason  than  that 
it  was  a  favourite  with  the  editor,  who  wished  to 
introduce  it  in  some  way,  however  irrelevant.  Again, 
we  are  assured  that  Miss  Hawkins  once  exclaimed, 
"  I  little  thought  what  I  should  have  to  boast,  when 
Goldsmith  taught  me  to  play  Jack  and  Jill,  by  two 
bits  of  paper  on  his  fingers." 

Thus,  though  the  tasks  performed  by  Goldsmith 
for  Newbery  are  generally  accounted  specimens 
of  hack  work,  which  he  had  to  do  in  order  to  eke  out 
a  livelihood,  there  is  satisfaction  in  claiming  for  him 
two  immortal  strokes,  his  tale  of  "  Goody  Two 
Shoes,"  and  his  share  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Mother  Goose  Melodies.*  Many  a  time  he  was 
dependent  upon  the  beneficence  of  his  publisher, 
many  a  time  rescued  by  him  from  the  hands  of  the 
bailiff.  The  Newbery  accounts  are  dotted  with 
entries  of  various  loans;  even  the  proceeds  of  the 
first  performances  of  the  "  Good  Natur'd  Man  "  were 
handed  over  to  Newbery  to  satisfy  one  of  his  claims. 

The  notes  accompanying  the  melodies,  and  which 
have  no  bearing  upon  the  child-interest  in  the  collec- 
tion, show  a  wit  that  might  very  well  belong  to  Gold- 
smith. He  was  perhaps  amusing  himself  at  the 
expense  of  his  lexicographer  friend,  Johnson.  For 
instance,  to  the  jingle,  "  See   saw,  Margery  Daw," 

*He  was  the  author  also  of  a  "History  of  Animated  Na- 
ture." 


44     CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

is  appended  this,  taken  seemingly  from  "  Grotius  " : 
"  It  is  a  mean  and  scandalous  Practice  in  Authors  to 
put  Notes  to  Things  that  deserve  no  Notice."  And 
to  the  edifying  and  logical  song,  "  I  wou'd,  if  I  cou'd. 
If  I  cou'dn't,  how  cou'd  I  ?  I  cou'dn't,  without  I 
cou'd,  cou'd  I  ?  "  is  attached  the  evident  explanation 
from  "  Sanderson  " :  "  This  is  a  new  Way  of  handling 
an  old  Argument,  said  to  be  invented  by  a  famous 
Senator;  but  it  has  something  in  it  of  Gothick  Con- 
struction." Assuredly  the  names  of  those  learned 
authors,  "Mope,"  credited  with  the  "Geography  of 
the  Mind,"  and  "  Huggleford,"  writing  on  "  Hunger," 
were  intended  for  ridicule. 

By  1777,  "Mother  Goose"  had  passed  into  its 
seventh  edition,  but,  though  its  success  was  largely 
assured,  there  are  still  to  be  noted  rival  publications. 
For  instance,  John  ^Marshall,*  who  later  became  the 
publisher  of  Mrs.  Trimmer's  works,  issued  some 
rhymes,  conflicting  with  the  book  of  Melodies  which 
Carnan,  Newbery's  stepson,  had  copyrighted  in  1780, 
and  had  graced  with  a  subtitle,  "Sonnets  for  the 
Cradle."  During  1842,  J.  O.  Halliwell  edited  for 
the  Percy  Society,  "The  Nursery  Rhymes  of  Eng- 
land, collected  principally  from  Oral  Tradition,"  and 
he  mentioned  an  octavo  volume  printed  in  London, 
1797,  and  containing  some  of  our  well-known  verses. 
These   it   seems   had   been   first   collected    by   the 

*  A  list  of  bis  publications  is  owned  by  the  Bodleian  Library, 
Oxford. 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    45 

scholar,  Joseph  Ritson,*  and  called  "Gammer 
Gurton's  Garland."  The  1797  book  was  called 
"Infant  Institutes,"  semi-satirical  in  its  general 
plan,  and  was  ascribed  to  the  Reverend  Baptist 
Noel  Turner,  M.A.,t  rector  of  Denton.  If  this  was 
intended  to  supplant  Newbery's  collection,  it  failed 
in  its  object.  However,  it  is  to  be  noted  and  em- 
phasised that  so  varied  did  the  editions  become,  that 
the  fate  of  "Mother  Goose"  would  not  have  been  at 
all  fortunate  in  the  end,  had  not  Monroe  and  Francis 
in  Boston  insisted  upon  the  original  collection  as 
the  authentic  version,  circa  1824.  Its  rights  were 
thus  established  in  America. 

The  melodies  have  a  circuitous  literary  history. 
In  roundabout  fashion,  the  ditties  have  come  out  of 
the  obscure  past  and  have  been  fixed  at  various 
times  by  editors  of  zealous  nature.  For  the  folk-lore 
student,  such  investigation  has  its  fascination;  but 
the  original  rhymes  are  not  all  pure  food  for  the 
nursery.  In  the  course  of  time,  the  juvenile  volumes 
have  lost  the  jingles  with  a  tang  of  common  wit. 
They  come  to  us  now,  gay  with  coloured  print,  rippling 
with  merriment,  with  a  rhythm  that  must  be  kept 
time  to  by  a  tap  of  the  foot  upon  the  floor  or  by  some 
bodily  motion.  Claim  for  them,  as  you  will,  an  edu- 
cational value;  they  are  the  child's  first  entrance 
into  storyland;   they  train  his  ear,  they  awaken  his 

*  Vide  Notes  and  Queries,  June,  1875,  5th  series,  iii,  441.  Prof. 
Edward  F.  Rimbault. 

t  Gentleman's  Magazine,  18-26,  Vt.  ii,  467-69. 


46    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

mind,  they  develop  his  sense  of  play.  It  is  a  joyous 
garden  of  incongruity  we  are  bequeathed  in  "  Mother 
Goose." 

IV.  John   Newbery,    Oliver    Goldsmith,    and 
Isaiah  Thomas. 

Wherever  you  wander  in  the  land  of  children's 
books,  ramifications,  with  the  vein  of  hidden  gold, 
invite  investigation, — rich  gold  for  the  student  and 
for  the  critic,  but  less  so  for  the  general  reader. 
Yet  upon  the  general  reader  a  book's  immortality 
depends.  No  librarian,  no  historian,  need  be  crowded 
out;  there  are  points  still  to  be  settled,  not  in  the 
mere  dry  discussion  of  dates,  but  in  the  estimates  of 
individual  effect.  The  development  of  cliildren's 
books  is  consecutive,  carried  forward  because  of 
social  reasons;  each  name  mentioned  has  a  story  of 
its  own.  Two  publishers  at  the  outset  attract  our 
regard;  except  for  them,  much  would  have  been 
lost  to  English  and  American  children. 

As  early  as  Elizabeth's  time,  Rafc  Newberie, 
Master  of  Stationer's  Company,  published  Hak- 
luyt's  "Voyages."  From  him,  John  Newbery  (1713- 
1767)  was  descended.  Given  an  ordinary  schooling, 
he  was  apprenticed  to  the  printer,  William  Carnan, 
who,  dying  in  1737.  divided  his  worldly  goods  between 
his  brother  Charles,  and  his  assistant  John.  The 
latter,  in  order  to  cement  his  claim  still  further, 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    47 

married  his  employer's  widow,  by  whom  he  had 
three  children,  Francis,  his  successor  in  the  publish- 
ing business,  being  born  on  July  6,  1743. 

Newbery  was  endowed  with  much  common  sense. 
He  travelled  somewhat  extensively  before  settling 
in  London,  and,  during  his  wanderings,  he  jotted 
down  rough  notes,  relating  especially  to  his  future 
book  trade ;  the  remarks  are  worthy  of  a  keen  critic. 
During  this  time  it  is  hard  to  keep  Newbery,  the  pub- 
lisher, quite  free  from  the  picturesque  career  of  New- 
bery, the  druggist;  on  the  one  hand  Goldsmith 
might  call  him  "the  philanthropic  publisher  of  St. 
Paul's  Churchyard,"  as  he  did  in  the  "Vicar  of 
Wakefield,"  which  was  first  printed  by  Newbery 
and  Benjamin  Collins,  of  Salisbury;  on  the  other 
hand,  in  1743,  one  might  just  as  well  have  praised 
him  for  the  efficacy  of  the  pills  and  powders  he 
bartered.  Now  we  find  him  a  shopkeeper,  catering 
to  the  captains  of  ships  from  his  warehouse,  and 
adding  every  new  concoction  to  his  stock  of  home- 
opathic deceptions.  Even  Goldsmith  could  not  re- 
frain from  having  a  slap  at  his  friend  in  "  Quacks 
Ridiculed." 

He  made  money,  however,  and  he  associated  with 
a  literary  set  among  whom  gold  was  much  coveted 
and  universally  scarce.  The  portly  Dr.  Johnson 
ofttimes  borrowed  a  much-needed  guinea,  an  unfortu- 
nate privilege,  for  he  had  a  habit  of  never  working 
so  long  as  he  could  feel  money  in  his  pocket.     This 


48    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

generosity  on  the  part  of  Newbery  did  not  deter 
Johnson  from  showing  his  disapproval  over  many 
of  the  former's  pubUcations.  We  can  well  imagine 
the  implied  sarcasm  in  his  declaration  that  Newbery 
was  an  extraordinary  man,  "for  I  know  not  whether 
he  has  read,  or  written  most  books."  Between  1744 
and  1802,  records  indicate  that  Newbery  and  his 
successors  printed  some  three  hundred  volumes,  two 
hundred  of  which  were  juvenile;  small  wonder  he 
needed  the  editorial  assistance  of  such  persons  as 
Dr.  Johnson  and  Oliver  Goldsmith. 

One  of  the  first  pieces  the  latter  let  Newbery  have, 
was  an  article  for  the  Literary  Magazine  of  January, 
1758.  Then  there  came  into  existence  The  Uni- 
versal Chronicle,  or  Weekly  Gazette  in  April,  1758, 
for  which  Johnson  wrote  "The  Idler."  In  1759, 
The  British  Magazine  or  Monthly  Repository  for 
Gentlemen  and  Ladies,  by  T.  Smollett,  M.D.^  and 
others  was  announced,  Smollett  then  taking  a  rest 
cure  in  jail.  As  though  magazines  could  be  launched 
in  a  few  hours  without  sinking,  a  daily  sheet  called 
the  Public  Ledger  was  brought  into  existence  on 
January  12,  1760,  for  which  Goldsmith  wrote  his 
"Chinese  I>ettcrs."  Between  this  date  and  1767, 
Goldsmith  resided  in  a  room  on  the  upper  floor  of 
Newbery's  house  at  Islington,  and  the  pul>lisher's 
son  declares  that  while  there  Goldsmith  read  to  him 
odd  parts  of  "The  Traveller"  and  the  "Vicar  of 
Wakefield."     This  has  not  so  much  evidence  to  sup- 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    49 

port  it  as  the  fact  that  bills  presented  at  the  front 
door  for  Goldsmith,  usually  found  their  way  to  New- 
bery  for  settlement. 

How  much  actual  suggestion  Goldsmith  gave  to 
his  publisher-employer,  how  far  he  influenced  the 
character  of  the  books  to  be  printed,  cannot  be 
determined;  he  and  Grifl^ith  and  Giles  Jones  as- 
suredly encouraged  the  juvenile  picture  stories.  An 
advertisement  of  1765  calls  attention  to  the  following: 
"The  Renowned  History  of  Giles  Gingerbread,  a 
little  boy  who  lived  upon  learning  "  [the  combination 
is  very  appropriate  in  its  compensating  qualities  of 
knowledge  and  "sweets"];  "The  Whitsuntide  Gift, 
or  the  Way  to  be  Happy  " ;  "  The  Valentine  Gift,  or 
how  to  behave  with  honour,  integrity  and  human- 
ity " ;  and  "  The  History  of  Little  Goody  Two  Shoes, 
otherwise  called  Margery  Two  Shoes." 

Though  he  could  not  wholly  escape  the  charge  of 
catering  to  the  moral  craze  of  the  time,  Newbery  at 
least  infused  into  his  little  books  something  of  imagi- 
nation and  something  of  heroic  adventure;  not 
sufiicient  however  to  please  Dr.  Johnson,  who  once 
said:  "Babies  do  not  want  to  hear  about  babies; 
they  hke  to  be  told  of  giants  and  castles,  and  of 
somewhat  which  can  stretch  and  stimulate  their  little 
minds."  A  thrust  at  the  ignorance  of  grown  people, 
regarding  what  children  like,  is  further  seen  in  John- 
son's remark  that  parents  buy,  but  girls  and  boys 
seldom  read  what  is  calculated  for  them. 


50   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

There  are  many  to  praise  Newbery's  prints;  they 
were  more  or  less  oddities,  even  in  their  own  time. 
Their  usefulness  was  typified  in  such  books  as  the 
"Circle  of  Sciences,"  a  compendium  of  universal 
knowledge;  their  attractiveness  was  dependent  not 
only  upon  the  beauty  of  their  make,  but  also  upon 
the  queerness  of  their  format;  for  example,  such 
volumes  as  w^ere  called  the  snuff-box  series,  or  ready 
references  for  waistcoat  pockets.  Then  there  was 
the  combination  plan,  indicated  in  the  announcement: 
"A  Little  Pretty  Pocket-Book,  intended  for  the 
Instruction  and  Amusement  of  Little  Master  Tommy 
and  Pretty  Miss  Polly,  with  an  agreeable  letter  to 
read  from  Jack-the-Giant-Killer,  as  also  a  Ball  and 
Pincushion,  the  use  of  which  will  infallibly  make 
Tommy  a  Good  Boy,  and  Polly  a  Good  Girl.  .  .  . 
Price  of  the  Book  alone,  6d.,  with  a  Ball  or  Pincush- 
ion, 8d." 

The  variety  of  Newbery's  ideas  resulted  in  every 
species  of  book-publishing,  from  a  children's  maga- 
zine {The  Lilliputian),  with  Goldsmith  as  the  reputed 
editor,  to  a  child's  grammar.  Interested  one  mo- 
ment in  a  machine  for  the  colouring  of  silks  and  cloths, 
at  another  he  would  be  extolling  the  fever  powders 
of  Dr.  James,  a  whilom  schoolfellow  of  Johnson. 
He  was  untiring  in  his  business  activity.  His  firm 
changed  name  many  times,  but  always  Newbery 
remained  the  dominant  figure.  After  his  death, 
the  business  continued  for  some  while  to  be  identified 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    51 

with  its  founder,  and  for  a  long  period  his  original 
policy  was  continued.  Francis  Newbery,  the  son, 
left  an  autobiography  of  historic  value. 

Newbery's  real  genius  consisted  in  his  trading 
ability.  Modern  advertising  is  not  more  clever  than 
that  practised  by  this  shrewd  man  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Not  only  was  he  in  the  habit  of  soliciting 
puffs,  and  of  making  some  of  the  characters  in  his 
stories  proclaim  the  excellencies  of  his  books,  but 
the  personal  note  and  the  friendly  feeling  displayed 
in  his  newspaper  items  were  uncommonly  intimate. 
Witness  the  London  Chronicle  for  December  19- 
January  1,  1765: 

"The  Philosophers,  Politicians,  Necromancers, 
and  the  learned  in  every  faculty  are  desired  to  ob- 
serve that  on  the  first  of  January,  being  New  Year's 
day  (oh,  that  we  all  may  lead  new  lives!),  Mr.  New- 
bery intends  to  publish  the  following  important 
volumes,  bound  and  gilt,  and  hereby  invites  all  his 
httle  friends  who  are  good  to  call  for  them  at  the 
Bible  and  Sun,  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  but  those 
who  are  naughty  to  have  none." 

Thomas  in  later  years  adopted  the  same  method 
of  advertising. 

The  most  thorough  piece  of  research  work  done 
by  Mr.  Charles  Welsh  is  his  "A  Bookseller  of  the 
Last  Century."  Had  he  aimed  at  nothing  more 
than  preserving  the  catalogue  of  Newbery's  books, 
he  would  have  rendered  a  great  service  to  the  library 


52   CHILDREN'S   BOOKS  AND  READING 

student.  But  he  has  in  addition  written  a  very 
complete  Hfe  of  Newbeiy.  When  it  is  noted  that 
this  printer  was  brought  into  business  relations  with 
Robert  Raikes,  and  was  further  connected  with  him 
by  the  union  of  Newbery's  son  with  Raikes'  sister, 
it  is  safe  to  believe  that  some  of  the  piousness  wliich 
crept  into  the  publisher's  wares  was  encouraged  by 
the  zealous  spirit  of  the  founder  of  Sunday-schools. 
Raikes  will  be  dealt  with  in  his  proper  place. 

Newbery  was  what  may  be  termed  an  enthusiastic 
publisher,  a  careful  manufacturer  of  books  of  the 
flower-and-gilt  species.  As  a  friend  he  has  been 
pictured  nothing  loath  to  help  the  needy,  but  always 
with  generous  security  and  hea\y  interest  attached; 
he  was  a  business  man  above  all  else,  and  that  be- 
tokens keenness  for  a  bargain,  a  keenness  akin  to 
cleverness  rather  than  to  graciousness.  In  his 
"  Life  of  Goldsmith,"  Washington  Irving  is  inclined 
to  be  severe  in  his  estimate;   he  writes: 

"The  poet  [Goldsmith]  has  celebrated  him  as 
the  friend  of  all  mankind;  he  certainly  lost  nothing 
by  his  friendship.  He  coined  the  brains  of  authors 
in  the  times  of  their  exigency,  and  made  them  pay 
dear  for  the  plank  put  out  to  keep  tliem  from  drown- 
ing. It  is  not  likely  his  death  caused  much  lamenta- 
tion among  the  scribbling  tribe." 

One  difficulty  Newbery  had  to  contend  with  was 
the  piracy  of  his  books;  there  was  no  adequate 
protection  afforded  by  the  copyright  system,  and  we 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    53 

read  of  Goldsmith  and  Johnson  bewailing  the  literary 
thievery  of  the  day.  By  some  it  was  regarded  as  a 
custom  to  be  accepted;  by  others  as  a  deplorable 
condition  beyond  control.  Early  American  author- 
ship suffered  from  the  same  evil,  and  Irving  and 
Cooper  were  the  two  prominent  \actims. 

The  book  Kst  of  Isaiah  Thomas  (1749-1831),  the 
Worcester,  jNIassachusetts  printer,  shows  how 
freely  he  drew  from  the  London  bookseller.  Called 
by  many  the  Didot  of  America,  founder  of  the  Ameri- 
can Antiquarian  Society,  author  of  one  of  the  most 
authentic  histories  of  early  printing  in  this  country, 
he  is  the  pioneer  of  children's  books  for  America. 
He  scattered  his  presses  and  stores  over  a  region 
embracing  Worcester  and  Boston,  Mass.;  Concord, 
N.  H.;  Baltimore,  Md.;  and  Albany,  N.  Y.  Books 
were  kept  by  him,  so  he  vouched,  specially  for  the 
instruction  and  amusement  of  children,  to  make  them 
safe  and  happy.  In  his  "Memoirs  "  there  is  found 
abundant  material  to  satisfy  one  as  to  the  nature  of 
reading  for  young  folks  in  New  England,  previous 
to  the  Revolution. 

Emerson  writes  in  his  "  Spiritual  Laws  "  regarding 
"theological  problems";  he  calls  them  "the  soul's 
mumps  and  measles  and  whooping-cough."  Al- 
ready the  sombre  sternness  of  Colonial  literature 
for  children  has  been  typified  in  the  "New  Eng- 
land Primer."  The  benefits  of  divine  songs  and 
praises;  the  reiteration  of  the  joy  to  parents,  conse- 


54  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

quent  upon  the  behaviour  of  godly  children;  the 
mandates,  the  terrible  finger  of  retribution,  the  warn- 
ing to  all  sinners  lurking  in  the  throat  disease  which 
was  prevalent  at  one  time — all  these  ogres  rise  up 
in  the  Thomas  book  to  crush  juvenile  exuberance. 
Does  it  take  much  description  to  get  at  the  miserable 
heart  of  the  early  piety  displayed  by  the  heroines  of 
Cotton  Mather's  volumes,  those  stone  images  of 
unthinkable  children  who  passed  away  early,  who 
were  reclaimed  from  disobedience,  "children  in 
whom  the  fear  of  God  was  remarkably  budding 
before  they  died "  ?  Writers  never  fail  to  say,  in 
speaking  of  Thomas  White's  "  Little  Book  for  Chil- 
dren" (reprint  of  1702),  that  its  immortality,  in  the 
face  of  all  its  theology,  is  centred  in  one  famous 
untheological  line,  "A  was  an  archer  who  shot  at  a 
frog." 

What  Thomas  did,  when  he  began  taking  from 
Newbery,  was  to  change  colloquial  English  terms 
to  fit  new  environment ;  the  coach  no  longer  belongs 
to  the  Lord  Mayor,  but  to  the  Governor  instead.* 
The  text  is  only  slightly  altered.  We  recognise  the 
same  little  boys  who  would  become  great  masters; 
the  same  ear-marks  stigmatise  the  heroines  of  "  The 
Juvenile  Biographer,"  insufferable  apostles  of  sur- 

*  Nurse  Truelove's  New  Year's  Gift;  or,  the  Book  of  Books 
for  Children.  Adorned  with  Cuts;  and  designed  for  a  Present 
to  every  little  Boy  who  would  become  n  great  Man,  and  ride  upon 
a  fine  Horse;  and  to  every  little  Girl,  who  would  become  a  great 
Woman,  and  ride  in  a  Governour's  Gilt  Coach. 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    55 

name-meaning,  Mistresses  Allgood,  Careful,  and 
Lovebook,  together  with  Mr.  Badenough.  Oh, 
Betsey  and  Nancy  and  Ameha  and  Billy,  did  you 
know  what  it  was  to  romp  and  play  ? 

The  evident  desire  on  the  part  of  Miss  Hewins,  in 
her  discussion  of  early  juvenile  books,  to  emphasise 
the  playful,  in  her  quotations  from  _Thomas'  stories, 
only  indicates  that  there  was  little  levity  to  deal  with. 
Those  were  the  days  of  gilded  "  Gifts "  and  "  De- 
lights"; the  pleasures  of  childhood  were  strangely 
considered;  goodness  was  inculcated  by  making 
the  hair  stand  on  end  in  fright,  by  picturing  to  the 
naughty  boy  what  animal  he  was  soon  to  turn  into, 
and  what  foul  beast's  disposition  was  akin  to  that 
of  the  fractious  girl.  Intentions,  both  of  an  educa- 
tional and  religious  nature,  were  excellent,  no  doubt; 
but,  when  all  is  estimated,  the  residue  presents  a 
miserable,  lifeless  ash.* 

So  far  no  distinctive  writer  for  children  has  arisen. 
The  volumes  issued  by  Newbery  represent  a  con- 
scious attempt  to  appeal  through  form  to  the  juvenile 
eye.  If  the  books  were  addressed  intentionally  to 
children,  their  amusement  consisted  in  some  ex- 
traneous novelty;  it  was  rarely  contained  in  the 
story.  Action  rather  than  motive  is  the  redeeming 
feature  of  "  Goody  Two  Shoes."     As  for  religious 

*  An  interesting  field  of  investigation :  Early  New  England 
Printers.  ]\Ir.  Welsh  mentions  a  few  in  article  referred  to,  p.60. 
A  full  list  of  Printers  and  Publishers  (North  and  South)  given  in 
Evans's  American  Bibliography. 


56   CHILDREN'S   BOOKS  AND  READING 

training,  it  was  administered  to  the  child  with  no 
regard  for  his  individual  needs.  He  represented  a 
theological  stage  of  sin;  the  world  was  a  long  dark 
road,  through  the  maze  of  which,  by  his  birth,  he 
was  doomed  to  fight  his  little  way.  Life  was  a 
probationaiy  period. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  leave  the  New  England 
book,  and  to  return  to  it  through  another  channel. 
The  viewpoint  shifts  slightly;  a  new  element  is  to 
be  added:  a  self-conscious  recognition  of  education 
for  children.  The  sternness  of  the  "New  England 
Primer"  possessed  strength.  The  didactic  school, 
retaining  the  moral  factor, — several  points  removed 
from  theology — sentimentalised  it;  for  many  a  day 
it  was  to  exist  in  juvenile  literature  rampant.  And, 
overflowing  its  borders,  it  was  to  influence  later 
chap-books,  and  some  of  the  later  pulilications  of 
Thomas  and  Newber}\  Through  Hannah  More, 
it  was  to  grip  Peter  Parley,  and  finally  to  die  out  on 
American  shores.  For  "  Queechy  "  and  "  The  Wide, 
Wide  World"  represent  the  final  flowering  of  this 
style.  In  order  to  retain  a  clear  connection,  it  is 
necessary  to  watch  both  streams,  educational  and 
moral,  one  at  first  blending  with  the  other,  and 
flourishing  in  this  countr}'  through  a  long  list  of 
New  England  authors,  until,  in  the  end,  the  educa- 
tional, increasing  in  volume,  conquered  altogether. 


THE  RLSE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    57 


Bibliographical  Note 

The  Babees  Book— Ed.  Frederick  J,  Furnivall,  M.A.  Pub- 
lished for  the  Early  English  Text  Society.  London,  Triib- 
ner,  1868. 

In  the  foreword,  note  the  following: 

Education  in  early  England: 

1.  In  Nobles'  Houses;  2.  At  Home  and  at  Private 
Tutors';  3.  At  English  Universities;  4.  At  Foreign 
Universities;  5.  At  Monastic  and  Cathedral  Schools; 
6.  At  Grammar  Schools.  Vide  the  several  other 
prefaces. 

This  collection  contains: 

1.  The  Babees  Book,  or  a  '  Lytyl  Reporte '  of  How 
Young  People  Should  Behave  (circa  1475  a.d.)  ;  2.  The 
A  B  C  of  Aristotle  (1430  a.d.)  ;  3.  The  Book  of  Cur- 
teisie  That  is  Clepid  Stans  Puer  ad  Mensam  (1430  a.d.); 
4.  The  boke  of  Nurture,  or  Schoole  of  good  maners: 
For  Men,  Servants,  and  children  (1577);  5.  The  Schoole 
of  Vertue,  and  booke  of  good  Nourture  for  chyldren 
and  youth  to  learne  theyr  dutie  by  (1557). 

FwieVol.iv,  Percy  Society,  London,  1841:  1.  The  Boke 
of  Curtasye,  ed.  J.  O.  Halliwell.  2.  Specimens  of  Old 
Christmas  Carols,  ed.  T.  Wright.  3.  The  Nursery  Rhymes 
of  England,  ed.  J.  O.  Halliwell,  1842:  a.  Historical;  b. 
Tales;  c.  Jingles;  d.  Riddles;  e.  Proverbs;  /.  Lulla- 
bies; g.  Charms;  h.  Games;  i.  Literal;  j.  Paradoxes; 
k.  Scholastic;     L  Customs;    m.  Songs;     n.  Fragments. 

Vide  Vol.  xxix,  Percy  Society,  London,  1849.  Notices 
of  Fugitive  Tracts  and  Chap-books  printed  at  Aldermary 
Churchyard,  Bow  Churchyard,  etc.,  ed.  J.  O.  Halliwell. 


AsHTOx,  John — Chap-books  of  the  18th  Century. 

AsHT  ON,  John — Social  Life  in  the  Time  of  Queen  Anne. 

Bergenguen,  R. — Boswell's  Chap-books  and  Others.  Lamp, 
28:39-44  (Feb.,  1904). 

Chambers,  W. — Historical  Sketch  of  Popular  Literature  and 
Its  Influence  on  Society,  1863. 

Cunningham,  R.  H. — Amusing  Prose  Chap-books.  Glasgow, 
1889. 

Faxon,  Frederick  Winthrop — A  Bibliography  of  the 
Modern  Chap-books  and  their  Imitators  (Bulletin  of 
Bibl.   Pamphl.   No.    11),   Boston    Book  Co.,    1903.     [A 


58   CHILDREN'S   BOOKS  AND  READING 

"freak"  movement,  beginning  with  the  publication  of 
Chap-book,  at  Cambridge,  May  15,  1894.] 
Ferguson,  Chancellor — On  the  Chap-books  in  the  Biblio- 
theca  Jacksoniana  in Tullie  House,  Carlisle.    Archaeolog. 
Jour.,  52:  292  (1895). 

Fraser,  John — Scottish  Chap>-books  (2  pts.).  New  York, 
Hinton,  1873. 

Gerring,  Charles — Xotes  on  Printers  and  Booksellers,  with 
a  Chapter  on  Chap-books.     London,  1900. 

Halliwell,  James  Orchard  — A  Catalogue  of  Chap-books, 
Garlands,  and  Popular  Histories  in  the  Possession  of  Hal- 
liwell.    London,  1849. 

Harvard  College  Library — Catalogue  of  Englishand  Amer- 
ican Chap-books  and  Broadside  Ballads  in.  1905  (Bibl. 
contrib.  No.  56). 

KiSARD,  Marie  Leonard  Charles  — Histoire  des  Livrfts 
Populair?s  ou  de  la  Litt^rature  du  Colportage,  depuis 
I'origine  de  rimprimerie  jusqu'a  I'^tablissement  de  la 
Commission  d'examen  deslivres  du  Colportage  (30  Nov., 
1852)  [2  vols.].     Paris,  Dentu,  1864. 

Pearson,  Edwin — Banbury  Chap-books  and  Nursery  Toy 
Book  Literature  of  the  18th  and  Early  19th  Centuries. 
London,  1890. 

Pyle,  Howard — Chap-book  Heroes.  Harper's  Monthly 
Magazine,  81 :  123    (1S90). 

SiEVEKiNG,  S.  Giberne — The  ]\Iedi.Tval  Chap-book  as  an 
Educational  Factor  in  the  Past.  The  Reliquary  and  Illus. 
Archaeolog.,  9:241  (1903). 


The  student  is  referred  to  the  following  invaluable  reference 
for  matter  relating  to  New  England  literature:  Catalogue 
of  the  American  Library  of  the  Late  Mr.  George  Brinley 
of  Hartford,  Conn.  (5  pts.)  Hartford:  Pre.-^s  of  the  Case, 
Lockwood,  and  Brainard  Co.,  1S7S-97.  Not  completed. 
Comprising  a  list  of  Books  printed  at  Camljridge  and 
Boston,  1640-1709. 

Pt.  I.— The  Bay  Psalm  Book,  No.  847;  Almanacs, 
1646-1707;   The  Mathers,  Special  Chapter  of  References. 

Pt.  III. — Biijlcs,  146;  Catechisms  and  Primers,  New 
England  Primer,  1.58;  Music  and  Psalmody,  163;  Psalms 
and  H\Tnns,  172. 

Pt.  IV. — Continuation  of  Psalms  and  Hj-mns;  Bibl. 


THE  RISE  OF  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS    59 

Ref.  to  Denominational  Churches,  Law,  Government,  Po- 
litical Economy,  Sciences,  etc.;  Popular  Literature:  Jest 
Books,  Anecdotes,  131;  Chap-books,  135;  Books  for 
Children,  139;  Mother  Goose,  140;  Primers  and 
Catechisms,  141;  Educational,  143;  Almanacs,  163; 
Theology,  177. 

Pt.  V. — Newspapers  and  Periodicals,  137. 

Ford,  Paul  Leicester — The  New  England  Primer  (ed.). 
N.  Y.,Dodd,  Mead,  1897.  (Edition  limited.)  [Vide  excellent 
bibUography.] 

The  New    England    Primer.     Bookman,  4:  122-131 
(Oct.,  1896). 

Johnson,  Clifton — The  New  England  Primer.  New  Eng- 
land Mag.,  n.s.  28:  323.  (May,  1903.)  [Some  essential 
data,  but  written  superficially.] 

Marble,  Annie  Russell — Early  New  England  Almanacs. 
New  England  Mag.,  n.s.  19:548.  (Jan.,  1899.)  [Vide  also 
Griswold's  Curiosities  of  American  Literature;  Tyler's 
History  of  American  Literature;  Thomas's  History  of 
Printing.  A  collection  of  Almanacs  is  owned  by  the 
Am.  Antiq.  Soc,  Worcester,  Mass.] 


Collin  de  Plancy — Memories  of  Perrault. 

Dillaye,  Frederic — Les  Contes  de  Perrault  (ed.).  Paris, 
1880. 

Lang,  Andrew — Perrault 's  Popular  Tales;  edited  from  the 
original  editions,  ■nnth  an  introduction  by,  Oxford,  Clar- 
endon Press,  1888.  [A  concise  and  agreeable  introduction 
to  the  study  of  folk-lore  in  general,  and  of  a  few  noted 
tales  in  particular.] 

Old-Fashioned  Fairy  Tales — Madame  D'Aulnoy,  Charles 
Perrault,  etc.     Little,  Brown,  Sl.OO. 

Old  French  Fairy  Tales — C.  Perrault,  Madame  D'Aulnoy. 
Little,  Brown,  $1.00. 

D'Anois,  Countess — Fairy  Tales,  Translated  from  the 
French  of.     (2  vols.)     London,  1817. 

D'Aulnoy,  Comtesse — Memoires  de  la.  [Vide  Collection  pour 
les  jeunes  fiUes.] 

Hale,  Edward  Everett — Reprint  of  the  Monroe  and 
Francis  Mother  Goose. 

Green,  P.  B. — History  of  Nursery  RhjTnes.     London,  1899. 

Headland,  J.  T. — Chinese  Mother  Goose.     Chicago,  1900. 


60   CHILDREN'S   BOOKS  AND  READING 

Halliwell,  J.  O. — Nursery  Rhymes  of  England;  collected 
principally  from  oral  tradition.  London,  1842.  [The 
Percy  Society,  Early  English  Poetry.] 

Popular  Rhymes  and  Nursery  Tales.     A  Sequel  to  Nur- 
sery Rhymes.     London,  1849. 

RiTSON,  Joseph — Gammer  Gurton's  Garland;  or,  The 
Nursery    Parnassus.     London,    1810;  reprint  1866. 

Welsh,  Charles — An  Appeal  for  Nursery  Rhymes  and 
Jingles.     Dial  (Chicago),  27:  230  (1  Oct.,  1899). 


Father  OF  Children's  Books — Current  Literature,  27:  110. 

Welsh,  Charles — A  Bookseller  of  the  Last  Century.     Grif- 
fith, Farren  &.  Co.    London. 


Batchelder,  F.  R. — Patriot  Printer.  New  England  Mag., 
n.s.  25:2S4(N. '01). 

Evans,  Charles — .American  Bibliography.  A  Chronological 
Dictionary  of  all  Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Periodical 
Publications  Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
From  the  genesis  of  Printing  in  1639  Down  to  and  In- 
cluding the  Year  1820.  With  Bibliographical  and  Bio- 
graphical Notes.  Privately  Printed  for  the  Author  by 
the  Blakely  Press,  Chicago.  Anno  Domini  mdcccctii. 
Thus  far  issued:  Vol.1.  1639-1729;  Vol.  II.  1730-1750; 
Vol.  III.  1751-1764. 


LiVTN'GSTON,  L.  S. — American  Publisher  of  a  Hundred  Years 
Ago.     Bookman,  1 1 :  530  (Aug.,  '00). 

Nichols,  Charles  L. — Some  Not&s  on  Isaiah  Thomas  and 
his  Worcester  Imprints.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.,  1S99-1900, 
n.s.,  13:429. 

THOJLA.S,  Bexjamix  Fraxklix' — Memoir  of  Isaiah  Thomas. 
By  his  Grandson.     Boston,    1874. 


Hewixs,  Caroline  M. — The  History  of  Children's  Books. 
Atlantic,  61:112  (Jan.,  1888). 

Welsh,  Charles. — The  Early  History  of  Children's  Books 

in  New  England.     Neiu  England  Mag.,  n.s.  20:  147-00 

(April,  1899). 
YoxGE,  Charlotte  M. — Children's  Literature  of  the  Last 

Centurv.     Lir.  Age,  102: 373  (Aug.  7,  1S69);  G12  (Sept. 

4,  1869);   103:96  (Oct.  9,  1869). 


III.     THE  OLD-FASHIONED  LIBRARY 

A  child  should  not  need  to  choose  between  right  and  wrong. 
It  shcndd  not  he  capable  of  wrong;  it  should  not  conceive 
of  wrong.  Obedient,  as  bark  to  helm,  not  by  sudden  strain 
or  effort,  but  in  the  freedom  of  its  bright  course  of  constant 
life;  true,  with  an  undistinguished^  painless,  unhoastful 
truth,  in  a  crystalline  household  world  of  truth;  gentle, 
through  daily  entreatings  of  gentleness,  and  honourable 
trusts,  and  pretty  prides  of  child-fellowship  in  offices  of 
good;  strong,  not  in  bitter  and  doubtful  contest  with  tempta- 
tion, but  in  peace  of  heart,  and  armour  of  habitual  right, 
from  which  temptation  falls  like  thawing  hail;  self-com- 
manding, not  in  sick  restraint  of  mean  appetites  and  covet- 
ous thoughts,  but  in  vital  joy  of  unluxurious  life,  and 
contentment  in  narrow  possession,  wisely  esteemed. — John 
Ruskin,  in  an  introduction  to  Grimm's  "  German  Popular 
Tales,"  illustrated  by  Cruikshank. 

I.  The  Rousseau  Impetus. 

"ly/TR.  E.  V.  LUCAS  has  compiled  two  volumes 
-*-'-^  of  old-fashioned  tales  for  modern  readers. 
In  his  introductions  he  analyses  the  qualities  of  his 
selected  stories,  and  it  is  generally  the  case  that, 
except  for  incidental  detail,  what  is  said  of  one  of  a 
kind  might  just  as  appropriately  be  meant  for  the 
other.  If,  at  moments,  the  editor  is  prone  to  confuse 
quaintness  with  interest,  he  makes  full  amends  by 
the  quick  humour  with  which  he  deals  wuth  the 

61 


62    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

moral  purpose.  Perhaps  it  was  part  of  the  game 
for  our  great-grandfathers  to  expect  didacticism,  but 
simply  because  children  were  then  considered  "the 
immature  young  of  men"  is  no  excuse,  although 
it  may  be  a  reason,  for  the  artificiality  which  sub- 
served play  to  contemplation.  Wherever  he  can 
escape  the  bonds  of  primness,  Mr.  Lucas  never  fails 
to  take  advantage ;  the  character  of  his  selections  in- 
dicates this  as  well  as  such  critical  remarks  as  the 
following : 

"The  way  toward  a  nice  appreciation  of  the 
child's  own  peculiar  characteristics  was,  however, 
being  sought  by  at  least  two  writers  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  each  of  whom  was  before  his  time:  Heniy 
Brooke,  who  in  'The  Fool  of  Quality'  first  drew  a 
small  boy  with  a  sense  of  fun,  and  William  Blake, 
who  was  the  first  to  see  how  exquisitely  worth  study 
a  child's  mind  may  be." 

Mr.  Lucas  brings  together  a  number  of  stories 
by  different  persons,  treating  them  as  a  group. 
Should  you  read  them  you  will  have  a  fairly  distinct 
conception  of  early  nineteenth  century  writing  for 
children.  But  there  is  yet  another  way  of  approach- 
ing the  subject,  and  that  is  by  tracing  influence  from 
writer  to  writer,  from  group  to  group;  by  seeking 
for  the  impetus  without  which  the  story  becomes 
even  more  of  a  husk  than  ever. 

Lctus  conjure  up  the  long  row  of  theoretical  children 
of  a  bygone  age,  painfully  pathetic  in  their  staidness, 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      63 

closely  imprisoned.  They  began  with  Jean  Jacques 
Rousseau  (1712-1778),  the  iconoclast,  who  attacked 
civil  society,  the  family,  the  state,  the  church,  and 
from  whose  pen  the  school  did  not  escape  chastise- 
ment. His  universal  cry  of  "back  to  nature" 
frightened  the  conservative;  even  Voltaire  could  not 
refrain,  on  reading  the  essay  dealing  with  the  origin 
of  inequality  among  men,  to  v.rite  him:  "Never 
has  any  one  employed  so  much  genius  to  make  us 
into  beasts.  When  one  reads  your  book  he  is  seized 
at  once  mth  a  desire  to  go  down  on  all-fours." 

Rousseau's  "  Emile,  or  Treatise  on  Education  " 
(1762)  was  wholly  revolutionary;  it  tore  down 
ancient  theories,  such  as  those  practised  by  Dr. 
Isaac  Watts  upon  liis  "ideal"  boy  and  girl;  all 
existent  educational  strictures  were  ignored.  Rous- 
seau applied  to  childhood  his  belief  in  the  free  un- 
folding of  man's  nature;  however  impracticable  his 
methods,  he  loosed  the  chains  that  held  fast  the 
claims  of  childhood,  and  recognised  their  existence. 
He  set  the  pendulum  swinging  in  the  human  direc- 
tion ;  he  turned  men's  minds  upon  the  study  of  the 
child  as  a  child,  and,  because  of  this,  takes  his  place 
at  the  head  of  modern  education.  He  opened  the 
way  for  a  self-conscious  striving  on  the  part  of 
authors  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  child's  nature,  by 
furnishing  the  best  literary  diet — according  to  educa- 
tional theories — for  juvenile  minds.  Revolutionary 
in  religious  as  well  as  in  political  and  social  ideals. 


64    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Rousseau's  educational  machinery  was  destined  to 
be  infused,  by  some  of  his  zealous  followers,  with  a 
piousness  which  he  never  would  have  sanctioned. 

Training  should  be  natural,  says  Rousseau;  the 
child  should  discover  beauty,  not  be  told  about  it; 
should  recognise  spontaneously  what  he  is  now 
taught.  Education  should  be  progressive;  at  the 
same  time  it  should  be  negative.  This  sounds  con- 
tradictory, but  Rousseau  would  keep  his  child  a 
child  until  the  age  of  twelve;  he  would  prevent  him 
from  knowing  through  any  mental  effort;  he  would 
have  him  grow  like  "Topsy,"  in  animal  spirits,  his 
mind  unbridled  and  imbibing  facts  as  his  lungs 
breathe  in  air.  Yet  inconsistency  is  evident  from 
the  outset:  the  child  must  observe,  at  the  same  time 
he  must  not  remember.  Is  it  possible,  as  Professor 
Payne  challenges,  to  form  the  mind  before  furnish- 
ing it  ? 

Rousseau's  precepts  are  wise  and  brilliant.  We 
hear  him  exclaiming:  "It  is  less  consequence  to 
prevent  him  [the  child]  from  dying  than  to  teach  him 
how  to  live;"  "The  man  who  has  lived  most  is  not 
he  who  has  numbered  the  most  years,  but  he  who 
has  had  the  keenest  sense  of  life;"  "The  best  bed 
is  that  which  brings  us  the  best  sleep."  These 
aphorisms  are  as  apt  as  those  of  Franklin;  but  in 
their  exercise  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  con- 
comitants brought  into  play. 

£mile  is  made  an  oiphan;    thus  Rousseau  gives 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      65 

himself  full  sway;  thus  does  he  free  himself  from 
the  necessity  of  constant  consultation  with  parents. 
He  is  determined  to  love  the  boy,  to  encourage  him 
in  his  sports,  to  develop  his  amiable  instincts,  his 
natural  self.  ]&mile  must  not  cry  for  the  sweets  of 
life;  he  must  have  a  need  for  all  things  rather  than 
a  joyful  desire  for  some.  Instead  of  teaching  virtue 
to  him,  Rousseau  will  try  to  shield  him  from  a 
knowledge  of  all  vice.  Where  Plato  recommends 
certain  pastimes,  he  will  train  fimile  to  delight  in 
himself — thus  making  of  him  something  of  a  youthful 
egoist.  This  amoeba  state,  endowed  with  all 
physical  liberty,  deprived  of  all  dignity  of  childish 
memor}',  is  to  be  the  boyhood  of  Emile.  He  "shall 
never  learn  anything  by  heart,  not  even  fables  and 
not  even  those  of  La  Fontaine,  artless  and  charming 
as  they  are."  Though  he  does  not  possess  the 
judgment  to  discriminate,  he  must  be  told  the  bare 
facts,  and  he  must  discover  for  himself  the  relations 
which  these  facts  bear  to  each  other.  At  the  age 
of  twelve,  he  shall  hardly  know  a  book  when  he  sees 
it.     Rousseau  calls  books  "cheerless  furniture." 

So  much  for  the  boy;  the  girl  Sophie  fares  as  ill. 
Being  of  the  woman  kind  as  well  as  of  the  child 
brand,  she  is  to  develop  in  even  a  more  colourless 
fashion.  Fortunately  all  theory  is  not  human  ac- 
tuality, and  Emile  must  have  peopled  his  world  in  a 
way  Rousseau  could  not  prevent.  We  are  given 
natural  rights  and  hereditary  endowments;    even 


66    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

the  savage  has  his  standards  and  his  dreams.  Rous- 
seau's plan  of  existence  ignored  the  social  evolution  of 
history.  Yet  ;6mile  might  by  such  training  have  been 
saved  many  wearisome  explanations  of  the  Mr.  Bar- 
low type,  and  it  is  ofttimes  true,  as  Mr.  G.  K.  Chester- 
ton claims,  that  the  mysteries  of  God  are  frequently 
more  understandable  than  the  solutions  of  man. 

There  was  much  in  Rousseau's  book  to  rouse 
opposition ;  there  was  equally  as  much  to  appeal  to 
those  whose  instinctive  love  of  childhood  was  simply 
awaiting  the  flood  gates  to  be  opened.  Like  the 
Grimm  fairy  tales  of  suspended  animation,  on  the 
instant,  the  paternal  instinct  began  to  be  active, 
the  maternal  instinct  to  be  motherly.  Rousseau — 
emended,  modified,  accentuated — overran  England, 
France,  and  Germany.  Children  were  now  recog- 
nised as  cliildren;  it  remained  to  be  seen  w^hether 
they  were  to  be  children. 

The  didactic  era  is  in  no  way  more  fitly  introduced 
than  w4th  the  names  of  Madame  de  Genlis  and 
Arnaud  Berquin  in  France,  together  wuth  the  Edge- 
worth  and  Aikin  families  and  Thomas  Day  in  Eng- 
land. To  each,  small  space  may  be  allotted,  but 
they  are  worthy  of  full  and  separate  consideration. 

Stephanie  Felicite  [Ducrest  de  St.  Aubin],  Com- 
tessede  Genlis  (1746-1830),  is  represented  upon  tlie 
library  shelves  by  nearly  a  hundred  volumes.  They 
were  written  during  the  course  of  a  varied  existence, 
at  the  court  of  Louis  XV  and  at  home.     Her  Me- 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED  LIBRARY      67 

moires  are  told  in  a  facile  and  delightful  style,  and 
indicate  how  she  so  thoroughly  balanced  the  many 
conflicting  elements  in  her  duties  that  she  remains 
for  those  days  a  rare  example  of  wife,  mother, 
society  woman,  and  student.  Her  discernment  of 
people,  as  revealed  in  these  pages,  was  penetrating 
and  on  the  whole  just;  and,  though  a  typical  product 
of  her  time,  her  nature  was  chastened  by  a  refined 
and  noble  spirit. 

The  first  glimpse  she  affords  of  herself  is  as  a 
child  of  six,  when  she  was  taken  to  Paris.  There, 
her  brother  was  placed  at  a  seat  of  learning,  where 
the  master  guaranteed  within  six  weeks'  time  to 
teach  him  reading  and  spelling  by  means  of  a  system 
of  counters.  The  little  girl's  teeth  were  shedding — 
not  a  prepossessing  phase  of  growth  at  best.  But, 
in  addition,  she  was  encased  in  whalebone  stays, 
her  feet  were  squeezed  into  tight  shoes,  Tier  curls 
done  up  in  corkscrew  papers,  and  she  was  forced  to 
wear  goggles.  The  height  of  cruelty  now  followed. 
Country-bred  as  she  had  been,  her  manner  was  not 
in  accord  with  the  best  ideas ;  her  awkwardness  was 
a  matter  of  some  concern.  In  order  to  give  better 
poise  to  her  head,  a  thick  iron  collar  was  clapped 
upon  her  supple  throat.  Here  she  was  then,  ready 
for  regular  lessons  in  walking.  To  run  was  to  court 
disfavour,  for  little  girls,  especially  city  ones,  were 
not  allowed  to  do  such  an  improper  thing;  to  leap 
was  an  unspeakable  crime;    and  to  ask  questions 


68    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

was  an  unwarranted  license.  It  is  small  wonder 
that  later  on  she  should  utilise  the  memory  of  such 
abject  slavery  in  "  The  Dove,"  one  of  the  numerous 
plays  included  in  her  "Theatre  of  Education." 

Her  early  years  thus  prepared  Madame  de  Genlis 
for  the  willing  acceptance  of  any  new  educational 
system,  especially  one  which  would  advocate  a  con- 
stant companionship  between  parents  and  child. 
For  she  had  been  reared  with  butexceptional  glimpses 
of  her  father  and  mother;  during  one  of  these  times 
she  relates  how  the  former,  in  his  desire  to  make 
her  brave,  forced  her  to  catch  spiders  in  her  hands. 
Such  a  picture  is  worthy  a  place  by  the  side  of  Little 
Miss  Muffet. 

Like  all  children,  Madame  de  Genlis  was  superior 
to  her  limited  pleasures;  she  possessed  an  imagina- 
tion which  expanded  and  placed  her  in  a  heroic 
world  of  her  own  making.  There  is  peculiar  pleasure 
in  discovering  under  narrow  circumstances  the  prood, 
healthy  spirit  of  youth.  Madame  de  Genlis  seemed 
proud  to  record  a  certain  dare-devil  rel)cllion  in 
herself  during  this  period.  The  pendulum  that  is 
made  to  swing  to  its  unnatural  bent  brings  with  the 
downward  stroke  unexpected  consequences.  And 
so,  when  she  married  De  Genlis,  it  is  no  surprise 
to  read  that  she  did  so  secretly — a  union  which  is 
most  charmingly  traced  in  the  Memoirs. 

She  developed  into  a  woman  with  deep  religious 
sensibility;    with  forceful  personality;   with  artistic 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      69 

talent,  well  exemplified  by  a  masterly  execution  on 
the  harp.  Living  in  an  atmosphere  of  court  fetes, 
the  drama  occupied  no  small  part  in  her  daily  life. 
Whether  at  her  Chateau  Genlis  or  elsewhere,  she 
was  ever  ready  for  her  role  in  theatricals,  as  dramatist 
or  as  actress.  She  played  in  Moliere,  and  was  ac- 
counted excellent  in  her  characters;  naught  pleased 
her  better  than  a  disguise;  beneath  it  her  vivacity 
always  disported  itself. 

Her  interest  in  teaching  began  early;  no  sooner 
was  she  a  mother  than  she  hastened  to  fix  her 
opinions  as  to  the  duties  that  lay  before  her,  in  a 
written  treatise  called  "Reflections  of  a  Mother 
Twenty  Years  of  Age,"  views  which  in  their  first 
form  were  lost,  but  which  were  rehabilitated  in  the 
later  "Adele  et  Theodore,"  consisting  of  a  series 
of  letters  on  education. 

After  her  mind  had  been  drawn  to  the  style  of 
Buffon — for  Madame  de  Genlis  was  a  widely  read 
woman — she  determined  upon  improving  her  own 
manner  of  literary  expression.  She  burned  her 
bridges  behind  her,  and  fed  the  flames  with  all  of 
her  early  manuscripts.  Then  she  started  over  again 
to  reconstruct  her  views,  and  in  her  study  she  made 
careful  notes  of  what  she  fancied  of  importance  for 
her  future  use.  She  was  on  intimate  terms  with 
Rousseau,  took  him  to  the  theatre,  and  conversed 
with  him  on  education  chiefly,  and  about  diverse 
matters  generally.     If  she  did  not  agree  with  him, 


70    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Madame  de  Genlis  was  told  that  she  had  not  as  yet 
reached  the  years  of  discretion  when  she  would  find 
his  writings  suited  to  her.  But  Rousseau  enjoyed 
the  vivacious  lady,  who  was  kind-hearted  and  worth 
while  talking  to,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  she 
had  the  courtier's  love  of  banter.     She  writes: 

"Not  to  appear  better  than  I  am,  I  must  admit 
that  I  have  often  been  given  to  ridicule  others,  but 
I  have  never  ridiculed  anything  but  arrogance, 
folly,  and  pedantry." 

Madame  de  Genlis  was  not  a  hero-worshipper; 
on  first  meeting  Rousseau,  his  coat,  his  maroon- 
coloured  stockings,  his  round  wig  suggested  comedy 
to  her,  rather  than  gravity.  We  wonder  whether 
she  asked  his  advice  regarding  the  use  of  pictures  in 
teaching  history,  a  theory  which  she  originated  and 
which  Mrs.  Trimmer  was  to  follow  in  her  Bible 
lessons.  Full  as  the  days  were,  Madame  de  Genlis, 
nevertheless,  seems  to  have  been  able  to  give  to  her 
children  every  care  and  attention.  This  must  have 
won  the  unstinted  commendation  of  Rousseau,  who 
preached  that  a  boy's  tutor  should  be  his  father, 
and  not  a  hired  person. 

Madame  de  Genlis  created  her  own  theatre;  she 
wrote  little  comedies  of  all  kinds,  which  met  with 
great  success.  Often  these  would  be  presented  in 
the  open  air,  upon  platforms  erected  beneath  the 
shade  of  forest  trees;  by  means  of  the  drama  she 
sought  to  teach  her  daughters  elementary  lessons 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      71 

of  life;  the  stage  to  her  was  an  educational  force. 
Through  the  plays  her  popularity  and  reputation 
increased  to  such  an  extent,  that  the  Electress  of 
Saxony  demanded  her  friendship.  She  became  in- 
structress to  the  children  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Chartres,  and  she  prided  herself  upon  being  the 
first  in  France  to  adopt  the  foreign  method  of  teach- 
ing language  by  conversation.*  The  rooms  for 
her  royal  pupils  were  fitted  according  to  her  special 
indications.  Rough  sketches  were  made  upon  a 
wall  of  blue,  representing  medals,  busts  of  kings 
and  emperors  of  Rome.  Dates  and  names  were 
frescoed  within  easy  view.  Every  object  was  utilised, 
even  to  the  fire  screens,  which  were  made  to  repre- 
sent the  kings  of  France;  and  over  the  balustrades 
were  flung  maps,  like  banners  upon  the  outer  walls. 
Up  and  down  such  staircases,  and  through  such 
rooms  wandered  the  cultivated  flowers  of  royalty. 
They  did  not  suffer,  because  their  teacher  was 
luckily  human  as  well  as  theoretical;  because  she 
had  a  vein  of  humour  as  well  as  a  large  seriousness. 
Her  whole  educational  scheme  is  described  in  her 
"  Lessons  of  a  Governess  "  and  "  Adele  et  Theodore." 
"VMien  she  engaged  a  tutor  to  attend  to  the  special 
studies  of  the  young  prince  in  her  charge,  she  sug- 
gested the  keeping  of  an  hourly  journal  which  would 
record  the  little  fellow's  doings — each  night  she,  her- 

*  She  is  the  author  of  a  remarkably  bold  **]Manuel  du  Voya- 
geur"  en  Six  Langues.  Paris,  Barrois,  1810.  Framed  to  meet 
every  conceivable  occasion. 


72    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

self,  to  write  critical  comments  upon  the  margins  of 
every  page.  In  addition,  she  kept  a  faithful  record 
of  everything  coming  within  her  own  observation; 
and  this  she  read  aloud  each  day  to  her  pupils,  who 
had  to  sign  their  names  to  the  entries.  But  much 
to  the  chagrin  of  Madame  de  Genlis,  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  refused  to  take  the  time  to  read  the  volu- 
minous manuscripts;  they  trusted  to  the  wisdom 
and  discretion  of  the  teacher. 

Not  a  moment  was  lost  during  these  busy  periods; 
history  was  played  in  the  garden,  and  civic  processions 
were  given  with  ponies  gaily  caparisoned.  Even 
a  real  theatre  was  built  for  them.  Royalty  was 
taught  to  weave,  and  was  taken  on  instructive  walks 
and  on  visits  to  instructive  places.  But,  through  all 
this  artificiality,  the  woman  in  Madame  de  Genlis 
saved  the  teacher. 

The  latter  part  of  her  eventful  life  was  filled  with 
vexations,  for  the  thunders  of  the  French  Revolution 
rolled  about  her.  A  short  while  before  the  storm 
broke,  she  went  on  a  visit  to  England,  where  she 
came  in  contact  with  Fox  and  Sheridan,  with  Walpole 
and  Reynolds;  and  where  she  paid  a  special  visit 
to  the  House  of  Commons  and  was  a  guest  at 
Windsor. 

All  told,  here  was  a  writer  for  children,  self-con- 
scious and  yet  ofttimcs  spontaneous  in  her  style. 
She  is  interesting  because  of  herself,  and  in  spite  of 
many  of  her  literary  attempts.     She  is  little  read 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED  LIBRARY      73 

to-day,  in  fact  rarely  mentioned  among  juvenile  book 
lists ;  education  killed  a  keen  perception  and  vivac- 
ity by  forcing  them  along  prescribed  lines.  One 
glimpse  of  Madame  de  Genlis  in  old  age  is  recorded 
by  Maria  Edgeworth,  who  called  on  her  in  1803. 

"She  came  forward,  and  we  made  our  way  to- 
wards her  as  well  as  we  could,  through  a  confusion 
of  tables,  chairs,  and  work-baskets,  china,  writing- 
desks  and  inkstands,  and  bird-cages  and  a  harp.  .  .  . 
She  looked  like  the  full-length  picture  of  my  great- 
great-grandmother  Edgeworth  you  may  have  seen 
in  the  garret,  very  thin  and  melancholy,  but  her  face 
not  so  handsome  as  my  great-grandmother's;  dark 
eyes,  long  sallow  cheeks,  compressed,  thin  lips,  two 
or  three  black  ringlets  on  a  high  forehead,  a  cap 
that  Mrs.  Grier  might  wear, — altogether  an  ap- 
pearance of  fallen  fortunes,  worn-out  health,  and 
excessive  but  guarded  irrritability.  To  me  there 
was  nothing  of  that  engaging,  captivating  manner 
which  I  had  been  taught  to  expect  by  many  even 
of  her  enemies;  she  seemed  to  me  to  be  alive  only 
to  literary  quarrels  and  jealousies;  the  muscles  of 
her  face  as  she  spoke,  or  as  my  father  spoke  to  her, 
quickly  and  too  easily  expressed  hatred  and  anger 
whenever  any  not  of  her  own  party  were  men- 
tioned." 

A  frontispiece  to  the  1802  edition  of  Arnaud 
Berquin's  (1749-1791)  works  represents  his  bust 
being  garlanded  and  crowned,  and  his  "  L'Ami  des 


74    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Enfans"  being  regarded  by  a  group  of  admirers, 
both  young  and  old.  But  though  this  very  volume 
was  received  with  honours  by  the  French  Academy, 
and  though  by  it  Berquin  claims  his  right  to  immor- 
tality, French  children  of  the  present  refrain  from 
reading  him  as  systematically  as  we  refrain  from 
reading  "Sandford  and  Merton,"  which,  as  it  hap- 
pens, Berquin  translated  into  French.  There  are 
popular  editions  of  "L'Ami  des  Enfans,"  but 
children  do  not  relish  the  tameness  of  such  moral 
literature.  The  editor  detailed  to  write  Berquin's 
short  life,  which  was  spent  in  the  study  of  letters, 
and  in  following  up  one  "Ami"  by  another,  sacri- 
fices incident  and  fact  for  encomium.  It  is  easy 
to  claim  for  Berquin  modesty  and  goodness  during 
his  residence  in  liis  native  town  near  Bordeaux  and 
after  his  arrival  in  Paris  during  1772;  it  is  interesting 
to  know  that  he  was  encouraged  to  use  his  talents 
by  the  praise  of  his  friends,  but  far  more  valuable 
would  it  have  been  to  tell  just  in  what  manner  he 
reached  that  ethical  state  which  overflowed  in  his 
"L'Ami  des  Enfans,"  published  during  the  years 
1782  and  1783.  The  full  purport  of  the  volume 
is  summed  up  exuberantly  in  the  following  para- 
graph : 

"Quelle  aimablc  simplicite!  quel  naturel!  quel 
sentiment  naif  respircnt  dans  cctte  ingenicusc  pro- 
duction! Au  lieu  dc  ces  fictions  extravagantcs,  et 
de  ce  mcrv'cilleux  bizarre  dans  Icsquels  on  a  si  long- 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      75 

temps  egare  I'imagination  des  enfans,  Berquin  ne 
leur  presente  que  des  aventures  dont  ils  peuvent 
etre  temoins  chaque  jour  dans  leur  famille." 

The  tales  and  playlets  written  by  Berquin  are 
almost  immoral  in  their  morality.  It  is  a  question 
whether  the  interest  of  children  will  become  ab- 
sorbed by  the  constant  iteration  of  virtue;  whether 
goodness  is  best  developed  through  the  exploitation 
of  deceit,  of  lying,  of  disobedience,  and  of  wilful 
perverse ness.  To  be  kind  means  to  be  rewarded, 
to  be  bad  is  synonymous  with  punishment.  Ber- 
quin and  his  followers  might  have  drawn  up  a  moral 
code  book  in  pocket  form,  so  stereotyped  was  their 
habit  of  exacting  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for 
a  tooth.  WTiat  are  the  punishments  of  vanity,  what 
the  outcome  of  playing  when  the  afternoon  task  is 
to  watch  the  sheep  ?  The  pictures  made  to  illustrate 
the  stories  depict  boys  and  girls  kneeling  in  sup- 
plication, while  the  grown  persons  almost  invariably 
stand  in  disdainful  attitude.  The  children  who 
would  be  their  own  masters  and  go  out  in  a  boat, 
despite  parental  warning,  are  upset:  there  is  the 
algebraic  formula.  "Plainness  the  Dress  of  Use" 
is  probably  a  worthy  subject  for  a  tale,  and  "A 
Good  Heart  Compensates  for  Many  Indiscretions  " 
a  pathetic  title  for  a  play.  But  young  people  as  a 
general  rule  are  not  maudlin  in  their  feelings;  even 
granting  that  there  are  some  given  that  way,  they 
should  not  be  encouraged  in  holding  a  flabby  standard 


76    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

of  human,  as  well  as  of  divine,  justice.  "L'Ami 
des  Enfans "  is  filled  with  such  sentimental  mawk- 
ishness. 

II.  The  Edgeworths;  Thomas  Day;  Mrs.  Bar- 
BAULD  and  Dr.  Aikin. 

At  the  early  age  of  twenty-three,  Richard  Lovell 
Edgeworth  (1744-1817)  decided  to  educate  his  son, 
Richard,  according  to  the  principles  set  down  by 
Rousseau.  He  thrust  the  little  fellow  back  into  a 
state  of  nature  by  taking  his  shoes  and  stockings  off 
and  by  cutting  the  arms  from  all  liis  jackets.  But, 
try  as  he  did  in  every  way  to  make  a  living  Emile  out 
of  young  Richard,  the  father  found  that  the  theories 
did  not  work.  When  he  took  the  luckless  boy  to 
Paris  and  called  upon  Rousseau,  there  ensued  an 
examination  of  results,  and  the  sum-total  was  pro- 
nounced a  failure.  Hon.  Emily  Lawless  writes  in 
some  glee: 

"  It  is  impossible  to  read  without  a  smile  of  the 
eminently  unphilosophic  wrath  expressed  by  the  sage, 
because  each  time  that  a  handsome  horse  or  vehicle 
passed  them  on  their  walk,  his  temporary  charge — 
a  child  of  seven — invariably  cried  out,  'That's  an 
English  horse!'  ...  a  view  which  he  solemnly 
pronounced  to  be  due  to  a  sadly  early  'propensity 
to  party  prejudice  '!..." 

Edgeworth  lost  entire  faith  in  the  practical  applica- 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      77 

tion  of  the  Rousseau  scheme  in  after  years ;  but  the 
lasting  efifect  it  seems  to  have  produced  upon  the 
unfortunate  victim  was  to  place  him  in  the  ranks  of 
mediocrity,  for  he  was  hardly  ever  spoken  of  there- 
after by  his  family;  and  in  order  to  remove  himself 
from  further  disturbance,  as  soon  as  he  reached 
years  of  discretion, he  hastened  to  place  miles  between 
himself  and  the  scenes  of  his  youth;  Richard  came 
to  America. 

Edgeworth's  love  affairs — for  four  times  he  was 
married — are  involved,  and  do  not  concern  us, 
save  as  they  effect  Thomas  Day.  But,  personally, 
he  enters  our  plan  as  influencing  his  daughter, 
Maria  Edgeworth  (1767-1849),  with  whom  he  wrote 
"Practical  Education."  There  are  some  men — 
and  Edgeworth  was  bordering  on  the  type — who 
assume  an  almost  dreadful  position  in  a  household; 
who  torture  the  mind  of  boy  or  girl  by  prying,  and 
by  wishing  to  emphasise  hidden  meaning  in  every- 
thing; who  make  children  fear  to  ask  questions  lest 
a  lecture,  dry  and  unoriginal,  be  the  penalty.  Such 
men  have  a  way  of  fixing  youth  with  intense,  severe 
gaze — ofj  smiling  with  a  fiendish  self-complacency 
over  their  own  superiority — of  raising  their  eye- 
brows and  reprimanding  should  the  child  be  watching 
the  flight  of  a  sparrow  instead  of  being  ever  alert 
for  an  unexpected  question  or  bit  of  information 
which  a  grown  person  might  put  to  him  on  earth. 
Such  men  are  the  kind  who  make  presents  of  Cob- 


78   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

bet's  "Advice  to  Young  Men,"  and  who  write 
mistaken  sentiments  of  nobility  on  the  fly-leaf  of 
Samuel  Smiles's  "Self -Help." 

Edgeworth's  redeeming  trait  was  his  earnest  de- 
sire to  bring  the  best  within  reach  of  his  children, 
and  he  considered  his  severity  the  proper  kind  of 
guidance  for  them.  Whatever  sin  of  commission  is 
to  be  laid  to  his  charge,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
it  was  not  so  great  as  to  destroy  the  love  Maria  had 
for  him.  The  literary  critic  has  to  reckon  with  the 
total  amount  of  effect  his  teaching,  his  personal 
views  had  upon  the  writings  of  his  daughter.  That 
he  did  influence  her  is  certain,  and  nowhere  more 
thoroughly  shown  than  in  her  work  for  children. 
In  theory  this  work  traces  its  origin  to  Rousseau, 
while  in  its  modelling  it  bears  a  close  relationship 
to  Madame  de  Genlis  and  to  Berquin. 

Banish  dolls  is  the  cry  in  "  Practical  Education," 
and  if  you  have  toys  in  the  nursery  at  all,  let  them 
be  of  a  useful  character — not  mechanical  novelties, 
but  cubes,  cylinders,  and  the  like.  Place  before 
children  only  those  pictures  which  deal  with  familiar 
objects,  and  see  to  it  that  the  pose  of  every  figure, 
where  there  are  figures,  is  natural;  a  boy  once  went 
with  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  through  an  art  gallery, 
and  invariably  he  turned  with  displeasure  away  from 
any  form  represented  in  a  constrained  attitude. 
This  is  the  general  tone  of  the  Edgeworths  as 
teachers. 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      79 

The  set  notions  that  fill  the  pages  of  "Practical 
Education"  often  border  on  the  verge  of  bathos. 
They  leave  no  room  for  the  exercise  of  spontaneous 
inclination;  by  their  limitations,  they  recognise  no 
great  amount  of  common  sense  in  others.  They 
create  in  one  a  desire  at  times  to  laugh,  and  again 
a  desire  to  shake  the  authors  who  were  in  the  frame 
of  mind  to  hold  such  views.  There  are  certain 
instincts  which  are  active  by  reason  of  their  own 
natures, — and  one  is  the  love  of  parent  for  offspring. 
We  even  accredit  the  wild  animal  with  this  quality. 
When  the  Edgeworths  declare  that  "  My  dear,  have 
you  nothing  to  do  ? "  should  be  spoken  in  sorrow, 
rather  than  in  anger,  the  advice  irritates;  it  is 
platitudinous ;  it  must  have  irritated  many  naturally 
good  mothers,  even  in  those  days  when  such  a  tone 
in  writers  was  more  the  rule  than  the  exception. 

On  the  subject  of  books  Miss  Edgeworth  and  her 
father  become  more  interesting,  though  none  the 
less  startling  in  their  suggestions.  One  of  Maria's 
early  tasks  in  1782  had  been  to  translate  "Adele 
et  Theodore";  to  her  this  book  was  worthy  of 
every  consideration.  In  the  choice  of  reading  for 
young  folks,  the  two  do  not  reach  very  much  beyond 
their  own  contemporaries:  Mrs.  Barbauld's  "Les- 
sons," the  Aikin's  "  Evenings  at  Home,"  Berquin's 
"  L'Ami  des  Enfans,"  Day's  "  Sandford  and  Merton" 
were  recommended.  And  in  addition  there  were 
mentioned   Madame  de  Silleri's  stories,   known  as 


80    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

the  "Theatre  of  Education,"  Madame  de  la  Fite's 
"Tales"  and  "Conversations,"  and  Mrs.  Smith's 
"Rural  Walks."  Despite  the  fact  that  fairy  tales 
are  at  this  period  frowned  upon  as  useless  frivolities, 
"Robinson  Crusoe,"  "Gulliver's  Travels,"  "The 
Three  Russian  Sailors,"  and  the  "Arabian  Nights' 
Entertainment "  are  suggested  because  of  the  interest 
and  profit  to  be  had  in  voyages  and  travels  of  all 
kinds.     Fancy  was  thus  held  at  a  discount. 

Two  books  of  nature  are  mentioned,  and  curiously 
one  is  emphasised  as  of  special  value  for  children 
provided  it  is  beforehand  judiciously  cut  or  blotted 
out  here  and  there.  The  Edge  worths  obtained  this 
idea  from  an  over-careful  mother  who  was  in  the 
habit  of  acting  as  censor  and  editor  of  all  juvenile 
books  that  found  their  way  into  her  house.  In 
Russia,  the  authorities  take  an  ink  pad  and  stamp 
out  the  condemned  passages  of  any  book  officially 
examined.  In  the  same  summary  manner,  English 
parents  were  advised  to  treat  their  children's  stories. 
The  Edgeworths  went  even  further,  suggesting  that, 
besides  striking  out  separate  words  with  a  pen,  it 
would  be  well  to  cut  the  undesirable  paragraphs 
from  the  page,  provided  by  so  doing  the  sense  of 
the  text  on  the  reverse  side  was  not  materially  inter- 
fered with.  To  mark  the  best  thoughts  for  young 
readers  was  also  strongly  recommended. 

The  authors  are  never  wanting  in  advice.  If 
children  are  good,  what  need  is  there  to  introduce 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED  LIBRARY      81 

them  to  evil  in  their  stories  ?  Evil  is  here  meant  in 
its  mildest  sense.  They  should  be  kept  from  all 
contagion.  But  bad  boys  and  girls  should  be  told 
to  read,  in  "  The  Children's  Friend, "  tales  like  "  The 
Little  Gamblers  "  and  "Honesty  is  the  Best  Policy," 
which  will  teach  them,  by  examples  of  wickedness, 
to  correct  their  ways.  Such  strange  classification 
suggests  that  literature  was  to  be  used  as  a  species 
of  moral  reformatory.  Two  significant  facts  are 
to  be  noted  in  this  chapter  on  books:  there  is  an 
attempt  to  grade  the  literature  by  some  age  standard, 
bringing  to  light  a  gap  between  four  and  seven  years 
which  may  be  offset  by  a  similar  gap  to-day;  so, 
too,  does  there  seem  to  have  been,  then  as  now,  a 
great  lack  of  history  and  biography. 

The  idea  upon  which  the  "Parent's  Assistant" 
was  founded  began  to  shape  itself  in  Miss  Edge- 
worth's  mind  early  in  life.  Left  alone  for  a  short 
period  with  her  younger  brothers  and  sisters,  she 
manufactured  tales  for  their  edification,  many  of 
which,  in  after  years,  she  utilised.  In  1796  she 
gathered  together  and  published  some  of  her  best 
stories,  among  them  "  The  Purple  Jar "  and  "  Lazy 
Laurence."  "Simple  Susan"  would  probably  not 
be  so  widely  emphasised  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
Sir  Walter  Scott  recorded  "  that  when  the  boy  brings 
back  the  lamb  to  the  little  girl,  there  is  nothing  for 
it  but  to  put  down  the  book  and  ciy." 

Miss  Edge  worth  and  her  father  had  much  preferred 


82    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

that  the  book  be  called  "The  Parent's  Friend,"  for 
lodged  in  the  former's  memory  were  disagreeable 
thoughts  of  an  old-time  arithmetic  which  had 
plagued  her  early  years,  and  was  named  "The 
Tutor's  Assistant." 

The  theatricals  performed  in  the  Edgeworth 
household  afforded  much  pleasure.  It  is  very 
likely  that  the  custom  was  gleaned  from  IMadame 
de  Genlis.  Plays  were  written  for  every  festive 
season.  The  publication  of  the  "Parent's  Assist- 
ant" suggested  the  acting  of  some  of  the  playlets 
contained  in  the  book.  There  seem  to  have  liecn 
two  theatres,  one  fitted  up  just  over  Richard  Lovcll's 
study,  and  another  temporary  stage  erected  in  the 
dining-room.  Here,  one  evening,  was  enacted  the 
exemplary  dialogue  of  "Old  Poz,"  where  a  poor 
man  is  suspected,  by  a  Justice,  of  stealing  what  a 
magpie  has  in  reality  secreted.  Lucy,  the  good 
little  daughter,  clears  the  innocent  fellow,  upon 
whom  her  father  sits  in  veiy  stern,  very  unreasonable, 
and  most  unnatural  judgment.  Irritable  to  a  degree, 
the  Justice,  who  is  positive  about  everything,  shuts 
up  any  one  who  gainsays  a  word  contrary  to  his 
obstinacy,  but  "Oh,  darling,"  he  remarks  to  his 
daughter,  after  her  excellent  deed,  ''you  shall  contra- 
dict me  as  often  as  you  please."  This  method  is 
neither  more  nor  less  than  poisonous;  it  is  polluted 
with  a  certain  license  which  no  good  action  ever 
sanctions.     There  is  small  doubt  that  children  see 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      83 

the  absurdity  of  it,  for  it  cheapens  right-doing  in 
their  eyes. 

The  compensating  balance  of  good  and  bad  is 
exercised  to  a  monotonous  degree  in  Miss  Edge- 
worth's  tales.  There  are  the  meek,  innocent  girl, 
and  the  proud,  overbearing  girl  in  "  The  Bracelet " ; 
the  heedless,  extravagant  boy,  and  the  thought- 
ful, thrifty  boy  in  "  Waste  Not,  Want  Not."  Disas- 
ter follows  disaster;  reward  courts  reward.  Not 
content  with  using  these  extremes  of  human  nature 
in  one  story.  Miss  Edgeworth  rings  the  changes, 
slightly  altered  in  form,  in  others  of  her  tales. 

"The  Purple  Jar"  in  substance  is  the  same  as 
"Waste  Not,  Want  Not";  the  moral  applications 
are  identical.  One  has  but  to  glance  through  the 
pages  of  the  latter  story  to  note  its  didactic  pattern. 
Yet  Miss  Edgeworth  possessed  her  literary  excellen- 
cies in  human  characterisation,  in  that  power  of 
narrative  which  gained  effect,  not  through  ornamenta- 
tion, but  through  deep  knowledge  of  the  real  qualities 
of  common  existence.  The  dominant  fault  is  that  she 
allowed  her  ultimate  object  to  become  crystallised 
into  an  overshadowing  bulwark,  a  danger  which 
always  besets  the  "  moral "  writer,  and  produces  the 
ethical  teacher  in  a  most  obtruding  form.  When 
Miss  Edgeworth's  little  girl  sprains  her  ankle  and 
her  father  picks  her  up,  she  consciously  covers  her 
leg  with  her  gown.  Fate  seems  never  to  have  worked 
so  swiftly,  so  determinedly,  as  in  those  tales  where 


84    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

thoughtless  boys  on  their  walks  had  the  consequences 
of  their  bad  acts  visited  upon  them  during  the  home- 
ward journey.  The  hungry,  the  lame,  the  halt, 
the  blind  turn  unexpected  corners,  either  to  wince 
beneath  the  jeers  of  one  type  of  mortal  child,  or  to 
smile  thanks  to  the  other  kind  for  a  gentle  word  or 
a  much-needed  penny. 

No  one  can  wholly  condemn  the  tale,  typified  by 
Miss  Edgeworth's  "  Parent's  Assistant."  Childhood 
is  painted  in  quaint,  old-fashioned  colours,  even 
though  the  staid  little  heroes  and  heroines  have  no 
interests.  They  take  information  into  their  minds 
as  they  would  take  physic  into  their  bodies.  They 
are  all  normal  types,  subjected  to  abnormal  and  un- 
naturally successive  temptations,  and  given  very  ex- 
acting consciences.  A  writer  in  Blackivood's  becomes 
indignant   over   such   literary   treatment: 

"They  [the  girls]  have  good  reason  to  expect 
from  these  pictures  of  life,  that  if  they  are  very  good 
and  very  pious,  and  very  busy  in  doing  grown-up 
work,  when  they  reach  the  mature  age  of  sixteen  or 
so,  some  young  gentleman,  who  has  been  in  love  with 
them  all  along,  will  declare  himself  at  the  very  nick  of 
time;  and  they  may  then  look  to  find  themselves, 
all  the  struggles  of  life  over,  reposing  a  weary  head 
on  his  stalwart  shoulder.  .  .  .  Mothers,  never  in 
great  favour  with  novelists,  are  sinking  deeper  and 
deeper  in  their  black  books, — there  is  a  positive 
jealousy  of  their  influence;  while  the  father  in  the  re- 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      85 

ligious  tale,  as  opposed  to  the  moral  and  sentimental, 
is  commonly  either  a  scamp  or  nowhere.  The  hero- 
ine has,  so  to  say,  to  do  her  work  single-handed." 

What  is  true  of  these  young  people  is  therefore 
likewise  true  of  their  grown-up  associates.  They 
have  definite  personalities,  and  they  are  either 
monstrosities  of  excellence  or  demons  of  vice  and 
temper.  But  here  also  a  careful  distinction  was 
preserved.  Mr.  Lucas  says  in  his  "Old-Fashioned 
Tales": 

"The  parents  who  can  do  no  wrong  are  very 
numerous;  but  they  are,  it  should  be  pointed  out, 
usually  the  parents  of  the  central  child.  There  are 
very  often  parents  and  relations  of  other  and  sub- 
sidiary children  whose  undesirable  habits  are  ex- 
ceedingly valuable  by  way  of  contrast." 

Despite  the  fact  that  there  is  so  much  to  condemn 
in  this  genre  of  writing,  Miss  Edgeworth  was  endowed 
with  that  sober  sense  and  inexhaustible  power  of 
invention  claimed  for  her  by  critics  of  the  period. 
Her  care  for  detail,  her  exhibition  of  small  actions 
that  mark  the  manners  of  all  people  in  diiferent 
walks  of  life,  were  distinguishing  features  of  her 
skill. 

With  her  father  Miss  Edgeworth  laboured  on  other 
things  besides  the  "Practical  Education";  while 
the  two  were  preparing  the  essay  on  "Irish  Bulls," 
published  in  1802,  she  plainly  states  that  the  first 
design  was  due  to  him,  and  that  in  her  own  share 


86    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

she  was  sedulously  following  the  ideas  suggested  by 
him.  Throughout  her  autobiographical  data  she 
offers  us  many  glimpses  of  that  family  unity  which 
existed — whether  from  voluntary  desire  or  because 
of  the  domineering  grip  of  Edgeworth,  is  not  stated. 
She  was  continuously  solicitous  for  his  welfare,  not 
through  any  forced  sense  of  duty,  but  because  of 
her  desire  to  give  pleasure  in  small  ways ;  she  found 
it  agreeable  to  sit  of  an  evening  doing  needle  work, 
while  Edgeworth  "read  out"  Pope's  Homer.  In 
the  course  of  such  hours  she  first  became  acquainted 
with  Scott's  "  Lady  of  the  Lake  "  and  "  Waverlcy." 

The  friendship  between  Miss  Edgeworth  and 
Scott  was  deep  and  cordial;  one  was  not  without 
abiding  influence  on  the  other.  She  describes  with 
graphic  pen  the  first  sound  of  his  voice  at  Abbots- 
ford;  and  the  biographer  has  no  more  agreeable 
material  to  work  upon  than  her  fortnight  spent  as  a 
guest  of  the  novelist,  and  his  return  visit  to  Edge- 
worthtown  in  1825. 

For  a  man  whose  avowed  detestation  of  women 
was  well  known  to  evciy  one,  Thomas  Day  (1748- 
1789)  succeeded  in  leading  a  life  of  romantic  variety. 
Yet  he  was  not  a  person  of  strong  passion;  in  fact, 
was  more  inclined  to  brooding  melancholy.  His 
intimacy  with  the  Edgeworth  family  began  when 
he  met  Richard  Lovell  at  Oxford;  and  it  was  when 
he  saw  the  training  of  Emile  applied  to  his  friend's 
son  that  his  mind  was  seized  with  the  idea  of  carry- 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED  LIBRARY      87 

ing  out  a  similar  scheme  himself.  He  held  a  great 
contempt  for  dress;  and  his  numerous  vagaries 
regarding  the  conduct  and  duties  of  a  wife  were  so 
pronounced  that  it  is  most  likely  they  came  between 
himself  and  Maria  Edgeworth,  with  whom  it  is 
thought  there  was  some  romantic  understanding. 

Unlike  Edgeworth,  Day  had  no  child  to  experi- 
ment upon.  So  he  set  about  "breeding  up"  two 
girls,  away  from  conflicting  influences,  and  accord- 
ing to  nature.  One  was  obtained  from  an  orphan 
asylum,  and  was  known  as  Sabrina  Sidney;  the 
other,  called  Lucretia,  was  taken  from  a  Foundling 
Hospital.  In  order  to  give  a  moral  tone  to  the 
situation,  these  girls  were  bound  out  to  Edgeworth, 
who  was  a  married  man.  Not  many  knew  that  Day 
had  hastened  with  both  of  the  damsels  to  Avignon. 
Here  he  began  to  educate  them  with  the  intention 
of  training  one  for  his  future  wife. 

Events  did  not  progress  smoothly,  however;  the 
girls  quarrelled  as  saints  would  have  quarrelled 
under  the  circumstances,  and  they  occupied  their 
time  by  falling  out  of  boats  and  having  smallpox. 
What  their  schooling  consisted  of  may  be  imagined 
from  the  fragment  of  a  letter  written  by  Sabrina 
to  Mr.  Edgeworth: 

"I  hope  I  shall  have  more  sense  against  I  come 
to  England — I  know  how  to  make  a  circle  and  an 
equilateral  triangle — I  know  the  cause  of  day  and 
night,  winter  and  summer." 


88    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

At  the  advanced  age  of  twenty-two — even  younger 
than  Edgeworth  when  he  first  became  imbued  with 
the  Rousseau  doctrines — Day  returned  to  Lichfield — 
the  home  of  Johnson  and  of  Dr.  Charies  Darwin — 
bringing  with  him  his  charges:  Lucretia,  who  was 
hopelessly  dull,  and  Sabrina,  who  proved  the 
favourite  and  was  by  far  the  more  attractive  of  the 
two,  with  her  fetching  auburn  ringlets,  her  long 
amorous  eyelashes,  and  her  very  melodious  voice. 
The  young  ladies  had  failed  to  become  thoroughly 
steeled  against  the  slings  and  arrows  of  outrageous 
fortune.  In  most  respects  they  persisted  in  remain- 
ing like  the  average  woman  with  sensibility.  When 
hot  sealing-wax  was  dropped  upon  the  shapely  arm 
of  Sabrina,  to  harden  her  against  the  fear  of  pain, 
she  refused  to  behave  heroically;  when  a  pistol 
was  fired  at  her  petticoats — a  volley  of  lead  for  all 
she  knew — her  screams  and  frantic  jumps  indicated 
that  her  nerves  were  not  impervious  to  the  unex- 
pected. 

Day  did  not  fail  to  show  his  disgust  and  disap- 
pointment. While  Sabrina  was  at  boarding-school,  he 
hastened  to  forget  all  about  her,  and  fell  in  love  with 
Honora  Sneyd,  whose  fame  chiefly  rests  upon  the 
fact  that  she  was  once  courted  by  Major  Andre, 
To  make  the  situation  more  awkward,  Edgeworth, 
despite  his  married  state,  likewise  possessed  strong 
affection  for  the  same  lady.  She  refused  Day,  and 
what  followed  contains  the  zest  of  a  wicked   little 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      89 

comedy.  He  fell  ill,  and  had  to  be  bled;  then  he 
summoned  up  sufficient  strength  to  escape  to 
France  with  Edgeworth,  who  felt  it  best  to  remove 
himself  from  temptation.  It  was  during  this  trip 
that  he  visited  Rousseau  with  poor  little  Richard. 
But  before  crossing  the  Channel,  Day  had  succeeded 
in  transferring  his  affections  to  Honora's  sister, 
Elizabeth. 

"  Go,"  she  said  to  him  in  substance,  "  try  to  assume 
some  of  the  graces  that  you  sorely  lack.  Learn  to 
dress  stylishly,  and  be  taught  the  proper  curl  for 
a  wig.  Train  yourself  into  a  fashionable-looking 
husband,  and  come  back  to  me." 

Thus  commanded.  Day  spent  many  weary  hours 
wielding  the  foil,  and  being  carried  through  the 
intricacies  of  the  dance.  And  those  legs  of  his — 
how  he  put  them  into  exercise,  hoping  against  hope 
to  straighten  them  ere  he  returned  to  England! 

But  there  was  evidently  no  improvement  in  the 
end,  for  when  the  lady  saw  him,  she  unhesitatingly 
refused  him.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  in  time, 
Edgeworth  married  both  sisters,  Death  regarding 
kindly  his  love  of  novelty. 

With  affections  thus  left  high  and  dry.  Day  turned 
once  more  to  Sabrina.  He  had  long  ago  discarded 
Lucretia,  who  apprenticed  herself  to  a  milliner,  and 
later  became  the  wife  of  an  honest  draper.  But 
Sabrina  was  fair  to  look  upon  and  Day  saw  no  reason 
why  she  should  not  satisfy  his  ideas  of  wifehood. 


90    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

provided  she  would  dress  according  to  liis  tastes. 
We  applaud  the  shake  of  those  auburn  ringlets  as 
she  refused  his  wishes,  and  thus  escaped  matrimony 
with  him.*  There  was  another  lady  upon  whom 
this  honour  was  to  descend. 

"WTien  Miss  Milnes,  of  Wakefield,  was  approached 
by  Day,  she  was  informed  of  all  his  requirements, 
and  was  deceived  as  to  none  of  his  vagaries.  It  must 
have  been  somewhat  of  a  surprise  to  him  when  she 
accepted  him,  outlandish  attire  and  all;  and  it  is 
a  pleasant  disappointment  to  know  that  the  marriage 
was  a  happy  one,  despite  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Day 
insisted  upon  holding  opinions  of  her  own. 

Day  was  most  content  when  he  was  theorising; 
at  the  same  time,  it  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  that  he 
had  timely  interests.  His  feelings  were  strongly 
aroused  against  the  state  of  negro  slavery  in  Amer- 
ica, and  he  was  earnest  in  his  advocacy  of  parlia- 
mentary reform.  His  great  fault  was  that  he  was 
always  carried  to  extremes  whenever  good  motives 
prompted  him.  His  earnest  concern  for  the  poor, 
during  1781,  was  accompanied  by  stern  denials  of 
pleasures  for  himself, — well-nigh  of  the  necessities 
of  life. 

Day  realised  the  failures  of  his  theories  as  applied 
to  grown  people;  had  he  not  done  so,  we  most  likely 

*  Day  was  liniicst  in  his  intentions,  liowovcr  mistakoii  his  policy 
may  have  Ix'en.  Sabrina  finally  married  a  Mr.  liieknell,  who 
willingly  allowed  her  to  aecept  support,  meagre  as  it  was,  from 
Dav. 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      91 

would  not  have  had  "Sandford  and  Merton."  His 
attention  was  soon  attracted  to  the  infant  mind  as 
an  unworked  field;  the  Edgeworths  were  meeting 
success  with  their  children's  books;  he  would  at- 
tempt the  same  thing,  and  so,  during  1783,  1787, 
and  1789,  the  three  successive  volumes  of  his  famous 
story  appeared — an  elongated  "Waste  Not,  Want 
Not." 

Day  had  heretofore  suggested  a  certain  effeminate 
bearing  in  his  character;  he  recognised  it,  and  was 
now  suddenly  beset  with  a  consuming  desire  to 
supplant  this  manner  by  an  overtowering  manliness, 
by  the  exercise  of  firmness  and  strength.  But  the 
new  policy  was  to  prove  his  undoing.  On  the  after- 
noon of  September  28,  1789,  he  went  to  ride  on  an 
unbroken  horse,  believing  to  curb  him  by  the  dis- 
cipline of  command  rather  than  of  the  stock.  The 
animal  took  fright  and  threw  him;  he  received  in- 
juries from  which  he  almost  immediately  died.  On 
the  evidence  of  ]Miss  Seward,  it  is  recorded  that 
Mrs.  Day  thereafter  "lay  in  bed,  into  the  curtains 
of  which  no  light  was  admitted,  .  .  .  and  only  rose 
to  stray  alone  through  her  garden  when  night  gave 
her  sorrows  congenial  gloom." 

The  estimate  of  such  a  work  as  "Sandford  and 
Merton"  cannot  be  based  upon  modern  standards; 
all  of  the  factors  characteristic  of  the  didactic  writers 
for  children,  such  as  persistent  questioning,  the 
encyclopaedic    grown   person  in  the    shape   of  ]Mr. 


92    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Barlow,  and  the  monotonous  interchange  of  narra- 
tive and  dialogue,  are  employed  as  vehicles  for  know- 
ledge. The  book  is  unique,  inasmuch  as  it  sought 
to  supply  a  variety  of  stories  suitable  in  style  and 
content  for  the  beginner. 

"The  only  method  I  could  invent,"  writes  Day, 
"was  to  select  such  passages  of  different  books  as 
were  most  adapted  to  their  experience  and  under- 
standing. The  least  exceptionable  that  I  could  find 
for  this  purpose  were  Plutarch's  Lives,  and  Zeno- 
phon's  History  of  the  Institution  of  Cyrus,  in  Eng- 
lish translations;  with  some  part  of  Robinson 
Crusoe,  and  a  few  passages  in  the  first  volume  of 
Mr.  Brook's  Fool  of  Quality." 

In  those  days,  if  authors  are  to  be  believed,  birds 
were  in  the  habit  of  alighting  on  the  hands  of  good 
children;  they  are  more  timid  now,  though  children 
are  not  less  good.  The  poor  boy  was  made  to  feel 
how  kind  the  good  rich  boy  was  to  him  through- 
out his  shocking  adversity;  we  are  more  con- 
siderate to-day.  And  so.  Tommy  ^lerton  and 
Harry  Sandford,  products  of  a  stilted  age,  are  clad 
in  uniforms  similar  to  those  worn  by  ^liss  Edge- 
worth's  children.  They  are  endowed  with  no  excep- 
tional qualities,  with  no  defined  will  power;  they 
stand  in  a  long  row  of  similarly  subjected  slaves  of 
theory. 

^liss  Agnes  Repplier  calls  this  story  one  of  her 
early  moral  pitfalls.     She  read  it  at  a  period  when 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      93 

information  was  being  forced  down  her,  and 
"which,"  so  she  writes,  "I  received  as  respon- 
sively  as  does  a  Strassburg  goose  its  daily  share  of 
provender." 

Among  the  writers  of  this  period,  none  are  more 
important  than  Anna  Letitia  Aikin  Barbauld  (1743- 
1825).  Her  position  is  a  unique  one,  for,  being  ac- 
quainted with  all  of  her  literary  contemporaries  and 
subject  to  their  influence,  she  stands  in  a  transition 
stage.  Through  her  mental  independence,  she  suc- 
ceeded partially  in  breaking  from  the  introspective 
method  of  motive-hunting,  and  foreshadowed  the 
possibilities  of  Mrs.  Hemans,  the  Brontes,  and  Mrs. 
Browning.  She  was  reared  in  an  atmosphere  of  in- 
tellectuality by  her  father,  John  Aikin,  a  professor 
and  a  man  of  advanced  opinions  regarding  female 
instruction,  two  points  which  argued  for  her  less 
conventional  mind  and  for  her  less  stilted  manner. 

When  she  married  Rochemont  Barbauld,  who 
had  been  a  student  under  her  father,  and  who  was  a 
non-conformist,  she  was  well  versed  in  Greek  and 
Latin,  and  in  every  way  was  equipped  to  do 
literary  work.  She  was  more  or  less  influenced  by 
her  husband's  religious  independence;  he  changed 
his  congregation  from  English  Presbyterianism  to 
Unitarianism,  and  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  the 
English  public  looking  somewhat  askance  at  Mrs. 
Barbauld's  fitness  to  write  for  children.  Madame 
de  Genlis  was  in  like  fashion  criticised  for  the  relig- 


94   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND    READING 

ious  views  she  held,  and  we  shall  find  Miss  More 
subject  to  the  same  scrutiny.  The  Aikins  were  the 
first  to  introduce  the  material  lines  in  children's 
literature,  "  but  the  more  anxiously  religious  mothers 
felt  a  certain  distrust  of  the  absence  of  direct  lessons  in 
Christian  doctrines;  and  Mrs.  Trimmer  was  incited  to 
begin  a  course  of  writing  for  young  people  that  might 
give  the  one  thing  in  which,  with  all  their  far  su- 
perior brilliancy,  the  Aikins  were  felt  to  be  deficient." 

We  are  not  concerned  with  all  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
work;  she  used  to  write  poetry,  some  of  it  in  repartee 
vein  which  struck  the  acute  fancy  of  Charles  I^amb; 
her  essays  were  of  an  exceptional  order,  in  a  feAv 
instances  expressed  in  imitation  of  Johnson;  he 
himself  had  to  acknowledge  that  of  all  who  tried  to 
ape  him,  she  was  most  successful.  Her  educational 
opinions,  sent  from  time  to  time  in  letters  to  Mrs. 
Montague,  marked  her  ability  as  a  teacher;  but  the 
method  that  she  believed  in  was  well  nigh  Socratic 
and  ofttimcs  wearisome  in  its  persistency;  history 
and  geography  were  given  to  infant  minds  in 
the  form  of  lectures.  Around  1802  William  Godwin, 
of  whom  we  shall  have  something  to  say  later  in  his 
connection  with  the  Lambs,  wrote: 

"I  think  Mrs.  Barbauld's  little  books  admirably 
adapted,  upon  the  whole,  to  the  capacity  and  amuse- 
ment of  young  children.  ...  As  far  as  ^Irs. 
Barbauld's  books  are  concerned,  I  have  no  difficulty. 
But   here  my   judgment  and  the  ruling  passion  of 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      95 

my  contemporaries  divide.  They  aim  at  cultivating 
one  faculty;  I  should  aim  at  cultivating  an- 
other. .  .  .  Without  imagination,  there  can  be  no 
genuine  ardour  in  any  pursuit  or  for  any  acquisition, 
and  without  imagination  there  can  be  no  genuine 
morality,  in  profound  feeling  of  other  men's  sorrow, 
no  ardent  and  persevering  anxiety  for  their  interests. 
This  is  the  faculty  which  makes  the  man,  and  not 
the  miserable  minuteness  of  detail  about  which  the 
present  age  is  so  uneasy." 

Childless  herself,  Charles  Aikin  was  adopted  by 
Mrs.  Barbauld,  the  little  Charles  of  "Early  Lessons 
for  Children,"  composed  especially  for  him.  The 
latter  work  was  followed  by  "Hymns  in  Prose  for 
Children,"  consisting  of  translations  from  all  tongues, 
put  into  simple  language,  and  not  into  verse,  for 
fear  they  might  fail  to  reach  the  comprehension 
otherwise.  These  hymns  are  probably  most  repre- 
sentative of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  individual  writings, 
for  the  work  by  which  she  is  best  known,  the 
"  Evenings  at  Home,"  was  written  in  collaboration 
with  her  brother.  Dr.  Aikin. 

In  the  "  Evenings"  a  new  tone  is  detected;  despite 
a  stilted  style,  the  two  authors  aroused  an  interest  in 
external  objects,  and,  by  their  descriptions  and  sug- 
gestions, attempted  to  infuse  meaning  into  the  world 
surrounding  the  child.  This  small  departure  from 
the  sectarian  tendency  prevailing  in  so  much  of  the 
literature  of  that  period,  imperceptible  though  it  may 


96   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND   READING 

be,  was  due  to  a  shifting  of  attitude  toward  women 
which  was  taking  place  in  England.  Mrs.  Barbauld 
might  be  considered  a  "bold"  example  of  feminine 
intellect  reaching  out  for  a  larger  sphere.  We  read 
that  Fox  was  surprised  that  a  woman  could  exhibit 
such  clearness  and  consistency  of  viewpoint  as  were 
to  be  discovered  in  such  of  her  essays  as  "  Monastic 
Institutions";  and  there  were  others  who  wondered 
at  the  alertness  and  interest  she  manifested  in  all 
matters  pertaining  to  public  affairs.  Her  force  of 
intellect  pleased  some,  her  manner  others.  Scott 
confessed  that  her  public  reading  of  poetry  inspired 
him  to  court  the  muse ;  Wordsworth  unfolded  so  far 
as  to  envy  the  beauty  of  her  stanzas  on  "Life," 
which  toward  the  end  contain  these  attractive,  hope- 
ful, and  faith-abiding  lines: 

"Life!  we've  been  long  together. 
Through  pleasant  and  through  cloudy  weather; 
'Tis  hard  to  part  when  friends  are  dear; 
Perhaps  'twill  cost  a  sigh,  a  tear; 

Then  steal  away,  give  little  warning. 
Choose  thine  own  time; 
Say  not  good-night,  but  in  some  brighter  clime. 

Bid  me  good-morning." 

Mrs.  Barbauld  was  one  of  a  group  of  women 
writers,  seeking  through  the  force  of  their  opinions 
to  destroy  the  conventional  barriers  which  kept  the 
exercise  of  feminine  minds  within  prescribed  bounds. 
Harriet  Martineau  has  outlined  the  tyrannical 
limitations  which  beset  a  young  girl  of  the  early 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      97 

nineteenth  century;  decorum  stood  for  mental  anni- 
hilation. When  genteel  persons  came  to  call  at  the 
home  of  Jane  Austen,  the  latter,  out  of  regard  for 
family  feeling,  and  for  fear  of  being  thought  forward 
and  unmaidenly,  was  constrained  to  cover  her  manu- 
script with  a  muslin  scarf. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  did  not  make  any  revolutionary 
declaration,  nor  attempt  any  public  defiance  of 
custom;  however,  she  did,  by  her  reaching  toward 
the  manifest  facts  of  life,  secularise  our  concern  for 
the  common  things  about  us.  She  encouraged, 
through  her  plea  for  the  freedom  of  thought,  the 
movement  which  resulted  in  the  emancipation  of 
her  sex,  and  which  found  vent,  on  the  one  hand,  in 
Mary  Wollstonecraft's  *  "The  Right  of  Woman" 

*  Mrs.  Godwin  [Mary  Wollstonecraft]  (1759-1797)  began,  as  an 
exercise,  to  translate  "The  Elements  of  Morality,  for  the  Use  of 
Children,"  written  by  the  Reverend  Christian  Gotthilf  Salzmann 
(1744-1811),  who  won  no  small  renown  for  the  excellence  of  his 
school,  founded  upon  the  principles  set  down  by  Rousseau.  "The 
design  of  this  book,"  says  the  worthy  master,  "is  to  give  birth  to 
what  we  call  a  good  disposition  in  children."  The  chief  delight 
of  the  1782  edition,  published  in  three  volumes,  are  the  copper- 
plates which  represent  in  the  most  graphic  way,  by  pose,  gesture, 
expression,  and  caption,  all  the  ills  that  juvenile  flesh  is  heir  to. 
No  one,  after  having  once  \'iewed  the  poor  little  figure  seated  on  a 
most  forbidding-looking  sofa,  can  quite  resist  the  pangs  of  sjinpathy 
over  his  exclamation:  "How  sad  is  life  without  a  friend!"  Life 
is  indeed  a  direful  wilderness  of  trials  and  vexations.  The  pris- 
matic colors  of  one's  years  shrivel  up  before  such  wickedness  as 
is  expressed  by  the  picture  "I  hate  you!"  And  yet  how  simple  is 
the  remedy  for  a  boy's  bad  disposition,  according  to  the  Reverend 
]\Ir.  Salzmann  !  "  Teach  him,"  so  the  philosopher  argues  in  his 
preface,  "that  envy  is  the  vexation  whicli  is  felt  at  seeing  the  hap- 
piness of  others:  you  will  have  given  him  a  just  idea  of  it;  but 
shew  him  its  dreadful  effects,  in  the  example  of  Hannah  in  chap. 
29,  vol.  II,  who  was  so  tormented  by  this  corroding  passion,  at 


98    CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

(1792)  and,  on  the  other,  with  more  determined  force, 
in  John  Stuart  Mill's  "  On  the  Subjection  of  Women  " 
(1869).  As  this  freedom  became  more  and  more 
assured,  there  underwent  a  change  in  the  educational 
attitude;  a  girl's  mind  had  something  more  to  work 
on  than  the  motto  of  a  sampler;  her  occupations 
became  somewhat  altered.  And  the  women  writers 
began  to  emphasise,  in  their  stories  for  children, 
the  individual  inclinations  of  hero  and  heroine. 

Wherever  Charles  Lamb  discourses  upon  books, 
he  assumes  the  critical  attitude  that  deals  with 
literature  as  a  living  force,  as  something  built  for 
human  appeal.  He  met  Mrs.  Barbauld  and  Mrs. 
Trimmer  on  several  occasions,  and  we  can  imagine 
the  delight  he  took  in  shocking  their  ladylike  senses 
by  his  witty  and  sudden  remarks.  At  one  period 
some  dispute  and  ill-feeling  existed  between  himself 
and  ISIrs.  Barbauld,  due  to  a  false  report  that  she 
had  lampooned  his  drama,  "  John  W^oodvil." 

Elia  was  not  the  sort  of  literary  devotee  to  sanction 
anemic  literature  for  children;  his  plea  was  for  the 
\italising  of  the  nursery  book.  On  October  23, 1802, 
he  wrote  to  Coleridge : 

"Mrs.  Barbauld's  stuff  has  banished  all  the  old 
classics,  .  .  .  and  the  shopman  at  Newbery's  hardly 

her  sister's  weddinj^,  that  she  could  neither  eat,  drink,  nor  sleep, 
and  was  so  far  carried  away  by  it  as  to  embitter  her  innocent 
sister's  pleasure;  tliis  representation  has  determined  the  cliild's 
disposition — he  will  hate  en\y."  Elements  of  jNIorality  .  .  . 
Translated  from  the  German.  ...  3d  ed.  (3  vols.)  London, 
1782. 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY      99 

deign'd  to  reach  them  off  an  exploded  corner  of  a 
shelf,  when  Mary  ask'd  for  them.  Mrs.  B's  and  Mrs. 
Trimmer's  nonsense  lay  in  piles  about.  Knowledge 
insignijficant  and  vapid  as  Mrs.  B's  books  convey,  it 
seems,  must  come  to  a  child  in  the  shape  of  knowl- 
edge, and  his  empty  noddle  must  be  turned  with  con- 
ceit of  his  own  powers,  when  he  has  learnt  that  a  horse 
is  an  animal,  and  Billy  is  better  than  a  horse,  and 
such  like ;  instead  of  that  beautiful  interest  in  wild 
tales  which  made  the  child  a  man  while  all  the  time 
he  suspected  himself  to  be  no  bigger  than  a  child." 

He  saw  the  penalty  that  lay  in  cramming  the  child 
with  natural  history  instead  of  furnishing  him  with 
some  creative  appeal.  We  can  forgive  Elia  all  his 
pranks  when  he  thus  pleads  the  genial  claim  of 
imagination;  if,  in  a  witty  vein,  he  called  Mrs. 
Barbauld  and  Mrs.  Inchbald  the  "  bald  "  old  women, 
we  must  understand  that  Lamb  had  his  petulant 
hours,  and  that  children's  literature  of  the  day  was 
sufficient  to  increase  them! 

The  purport  of  "Evenings  at  Home"  is  instruc- 
tion. Within  the  compass  of  a  few  pages,  objects 
crowd  one  upon  the  other  as  thick  and  as  fast  as 
\artues  do  in  Miss  Edgeworth.  Such  keenness  and 
alertness  in  observing  common  things,  as  are  culti- 
vated in  "  Eyes  and  No  Eyes, "  stagger  the  intellect. 
It  is  well  to  teach  your  young  companions  to  feel 
the  hidden  possibilities  of  nature  and  to  cultivate 
within  them  a  careful  observation;    but  there  is  a 


100   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

vacation  time  for  the  mind,  and  the  world,  though 
it  may  be  a  school-room,  is  also  a  very  healthy  place 
to  play  in.  Mr.  Andrews,  the  immaculate  teacher, 
is  represented  by  the  artist,  in  ray  copy  of  the  book, 
as  seated  in  a  chair,  with  a  compass  in  one  hand 
resting  upon  a  book,  while  behind  him  stretches  the 
outline  of  a  map;  the  two  boys  stand  in  front  of  him 
like  prisoners  before  the  bar.  Here  then  is  a  nc^'  al- 
gebraic formula  in  the  literature  for  the  young. 

Mrs.  Barbauld  thus  represents  a  transition  stage 
in  juvenile  writing;  education  and  narrative  walk 
side  by  side.  She  made  it  possible,  in  the  future, 
for  Peter  Parley  and  for  Rollo  to  thrive.  Thomas 
Day  foreshadowed  the  method  of  retelling  incidents 
from  the  classics  and  from  standard  history  and 
travel, — a  form  which  is  practised  to  a  great  extent 
by  our  present  writers,  who  thread  diverse  materials 
on  a  slender  wire  of  subsidiary  story,  and  who,  like 
Butterworth  and  Knox,  invent  untiring  families  of 
travellers  who  go  to  foreign  parts,  who  see  things,  and 
then  who  talk  out  loud  about  them. 

But  before  this  secularisation  gained  marked 
hold,  a  new  tributary  is  to  be  noted,  which  flowed 
into  the  moral  stream, — a  tributary  which  afforded 
the  moral  impulse  a  definite  field  to  work  in,  which 
centred  its  purpose  upon  a  distinct  class.  For 
heretofore  the  writers  of  juvenile  literature  had 
aimed  for  a  general  appeal.  The  struggle  was  now 
to  be  between  the  Sunday-school  and  the  text-book. 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED  LIBRARY     101 

in.  The  Sunday-school;  Raikes;  Hannah 
More;  Mrs.  Trimmer. 

If  the  Sunday-school  movement  had  not  assumed 
some  proportions  about  this  time,  it  would  have  been 
necessary  to  create  a  practical  outlet  for  the  moral 
energy  which  dominated  the  authors  of  whom  we 
have  been  writing.  Had  Robert  Raikes  not  con- 
ceived his  plan  when  he  did,  the  ethical  impulse 
would  have  run  riot  in  a  much  wilder  fashion,  and 
would  have  done  no  good  at  all.  For,  whatever 
may  be  said  against  the  old-time  Sunday-school  in 
a  critical  vein,  one  cannot  ignore  that  its  establish- 
ment brought  immediate  benefit.  As  it  was,  the 
new  institution  furnished  the  objective  point  for 
which  the  didactic  school  was  blindly  groping,  and 
developed  the  idea  of  personal  service.  The  social 
ideal  was  beginning  to  germinate. 

Robert  Raikes  (1735  or  6-1811)  was  by  profession 
a  printer.  He  was  of  benevolent  disposition  and 
met  with  much  to  arouse  his  sjTiipathy  for  the  lower 
classes,  whom  he  found  indifferent  to  religion  and 
hopelessly  uncouth  in  their  daily  living.  With  the  re- 
ligious revival  which  swept  through  England  around 
1770,  caused  by  the  preaching  of  George  Whitefield, 
Raikes  began  his  work  in  earnest,  first  among  the 
city  prisons,  where  he  was  brought  in  contact  with 
surprising  conditions  which  had  long  lain  in  ob- 
scurity because  of  a  wide-spread  public  indifference. 


102  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

His  observation  thus  trained  to  follow  along  this 
particular  social  line,  he  soon  became  attracted  to- 
ward the  children  apprenticed  to  a  certain  pin 
factory.  He  saw  that  the  discipline  of  work,  how- 
ever exacting,  however  it  denied  them  the  care  and 
attention  due  to  all  young  persons,  was  the  only 
restrictive  guidance  they  had.  When  Sunday  came, 
they  ran  wild,  relieved  of  duty,  and  not  imbued  with 
any  idea  of  personal  control.  Their  elders  were 
living  immoral  lives;  they  had  no  opportunity  or 
incentive  to  improve;  and  their  natural  inclination 
was  to  follow  animal  impulse  and  blind  desire.  To 
such  a  religious  man  as  Raikes,  the  mandate,  "Suffer 
little  children  to  come  unto  me,"  was  most  naturally 
suggested  by  such  circumstances.  Some  means  of 
occupying  these  children  on  the  Sabbath  day  must 
be  devised. 

So  it  was  that  on  January  26,  1781,  the  first  Sun- 
day-school was  opened.  Raikes  poured  his  whole 
energy  into  organization,  and,  through  the  medium  of 
his  own  paper,  the  Gloucester  Jo urna/,  spread  broad- 
cast his  written  suggestions  about  the  work  to  be 
done,  and  his  descriptions  of  the  particular  localities 
which  most  needed  attention.  He  was  in  a  position 
to  gain  publicity,  and  his  own  personal  earnestness 
counted  for  a  great  deal.  Already  we  have  noted  his 
relationship  to  Xewbery,  whose  literary  connections 
probably  afforded  Raikes  some  assistance. 

The  movement  had  been  of  five  years'  growth. 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     103 

when,  in  1786,  Raikes  was  summoned  before  King 
George  III.  Their  Majesties,  both  the  King  and 
Queen,  were  interested  by  what  they  had  heard,  and 
wished  to  know  something  more.  The  Queen  was 
being  almost  daily  enthused  through  the  intensity 
of  Mrs.  Trimmer's  pleadings.  This  good  lady, 
already  known  for  her  children's  books,  had  put  into 
operation  a  Sunday-school  of  her  own  at  Brentwood, 
and  it  was  to  this  that  the  King  had  paid  a  memorable 
visit,  leaving  behind  him  a  reputation  for  "  kind  and 
condescending  behaviour,"  which  won  the  hearts  of 
all  the  children.  In  this  way  was  the  official  sanc- 
tion placed  upon  Christianity  as  a  practical  force; 
there  was  even  every  prospect  of  starting  a  Sunday- 
school  at  Windsor.  "A  general  joy  reigns  among 
the  conductors,"  cried  the  enthusiastic  Mrs.  Trim- 
mer, when  she  realised  what  interest  was  being 
shown  in  every  quarter. 

The  programme  framed  for  Raikes's  little  pro- 
teges was  indeed  sufficiently  full  to  keep  them  from 
the  highways.     He  writes : 

"  The  children  were  to  come  after  ten  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  stay  till  twelve ;  they  were  then  to  go  home 
and  return  at  one;  and  after  reading  a  lesson,  they 
were  to  be  conducted  to  Church.  After  Church, 
they  were  to  be  employed  in  repeating  the  catechism 
till  after  five,  and  then  dismissed,  with  an  injunction 
to  go  home  without  making  a  noise." 

Lamb  and  Leigh  Hunt,  when  together  at  Christ 


104  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Hospital,  were  regarded  as  veritable  monks  in  their 
knowledge  of  the  Bible;  but  these  little  waifs  were 
slaves  of  a  rigorous  order;  there  was  nothing  volun- 
tary in  their  desire  for  spiritual  light.  The  time 
was  to  arrive  when  more  sunshine  was  to  be  mixed 
with  the  teaching,  but  in  the  beginning  it  was  neces- 
sary for  Raikes  to  keep  the  Sabbath  forcibly  ob- 
served rather  than  to  devise  a  less  exacting  routine. 
He  went  about,  untiring  in  his  efforts ;  he  plead  per- 
sonally with  parents,  besides  hoping  that,  through 
the  moral  instruction  being  given  to  their  children, 
they  might  be  made  to  see  the  outlet  for  their  own 
salvation. 

Years  after,  testimony  was  obtained  from  the 
survivors  of  Raikes's  discipline.  One  William 
Brick  had  been  a  scholar  of  his,  and  the  memory  of 
those  days  was  vivid — perhaps  a  little  too  much  so, 
but  none  the  less  picturesque : 

"I  can  remember  Mr.  Raikes  well  enough,"  he 
said.  "  I  remember  his  caning  me.  I  don't  suppose 
I  minded  it  much.  He  used  to  cane  boys  on  the 
back  of  a  chair.  Some  terrible  bad  chaps  went  to 
school  when  I  first  went.  ...  I  know  the  parents 
of  one  or  two  of  them  used  to  walk  them  to  school 
with  14-lb.  weights  tied  to  their  legs,  to  keep  them 
from  running  away.  .  .  .  When  a  boy  was  very 
bad,  he  would  take  him  out  of  the  school,  and  march 
him  home  and  get  his  parents  to '  wallop'  him.  Tied 
stop  and  see  it  done,   and    then    bring  the    young 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED  LIBRARY     105 

urchin  back,  rubbing  his  eyes  and  other  places.  .  .  . 
Every  one  in  the  city  loved  and  feared  him." 

Such  a  scene  is  not  prepossessing;  nor  does  moral 
suasion  appear  to  have  been  as  efficacious  as  the  rod. 
Besides  which,  Raikes  had  a  way  of  looking  at  a 
trembling  victim  through  his  reading-glass,  and  ex- 
claiming in  thunderous  voice:  "Ah,  I  can  see  you 
did  not  say  your  prayers  this  morning."  An  old 
man  of  eighty  spoke  of  this  circumstance  with  deep 
feehng;  and,  in  awe-stricken  tones,  he  ended  by  say- 
ing: "The  boys  believed  he  could  see  through  stone 
walls  with  that  glass ;  and  it  magnified  his  eye,  so  that 
they  were  sometimes  frightened,  and  told  wonderful 
stories  about  what  Mr.  Raikes  could  do  ■with  his 
wonderful  glass." 

The  immediate  influence  tliis  movement  had  upon 
children's  books  was  to  create  a  demand  for  tracts. 
Later  on,  after  Thomas  Carlyle,  in  1839,  had  plead 
the  cause  of  London  public  libraries,  it  suggested  a 
special  class  of  library  as  a  part  of  the  Sunday-school 
machinery.  A  general  call  was  raised  for  juvenile 
books  of  a  strictly  religious  nature,  with  an  appeal 
intended  for  a  poorer  class  of  readers.  Miss  Hannah 
More  represents  the  chief  exponent  of  this  grade  of 
writing.  "All  service  ranks  alike  with  God,"  says 
Browning.  But  these  ladies,  who  were  untiring  in 
their  devotion  to  the  cause,  who  were,  in  their  paro- 
chial character,  forerunners  of  the  social  worker  of 
to-day,  each  was  known  through  her  special  interest. 


106  CHILDREN'S   BOOKS  AND  READING 

We  speak  of  Miss  Catherine  Sinclair,  author  of 
"Holiday  House,"  as  the  first  to  introduce  benches 
in  the  parks  of  Edinburgh,  as  the  originator  of 
drinking-fountains,  as  the  founder  of  cooking-depots; 
of  Priscilla  Wakefield  as  the  originator  of  savings- 
banks  for  the  poor;  of  Miss  More  as  the  author  of 
tracts;  and  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Oakes  Smith,  one  of 
the  forgotten  New-England  writers,  as  the  first  to 
draw  attention  to  the  condition  of  the  newsboys. 
Mrs.  Trimmer,  therefore,  is  justly  connected  with 
the  history  of  the  development  of  Sunday-schools. 

In  a  tabular  indication  of  the  trend  of  juvenile 
literature,  Sarah  Kirby  Trimmer  (1741-1810)  may 
be  said  to  have  been  a  disciple  of  Madame  de  Gcnlis 
and  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  quite  as  much  as  a  follower  of 
Rousseau  and  of  Raikes;  she  inherited  from  her 
father  an  overweening  religious  inclination,  and 
.several  glimpses  of  her  in  the  society  of  the  day  reveal 
how  deeply  seated  her  serious  nature  was.  In 
London  she  talked  with  Dr.  Johnson,  I\Tr.  Gains- 
borough, and  ]\Ir.  Hogarth,  and,  through  recognised 
powers  of  reading  aloud,  she  charmed  many  of  her 
friends.  But  it  was  a  hopeless  situation  to  cope  with 
in  a  young  girl,  when,  a  <lispute  having  arisen  be- 
tween Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  one  of  his  friends, 
Sarah,  being  called  upon  to  settle  the  point — a  doubt- 
ful passage  in  "Paradise  Lost" — drew  the  volume 
from  the  pocket  of  her  skirt!  At  twenty-one  she  was 
married,  destined  to  be  the  mother  of  six  sons  and 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     107 

six  daughters,  and  no  sooner  was  the  first  child  born 
than  she  directed  all  of  her  attention,  as  Madame  de 
Genlis  did,  to  the  subject  of  education. 

Wearisome  it  is  to  come  in  contact  with  a  person 
of  one  idea.  Mrs.  Trimmer  naively  confesses  in 
her  journal  that  she  must  have  worn  out  the  patience 
of  many  a  visitor  with  her  views  upon  education. 
As  the  years  advanced,  her  opinions  became  more 
narrowed  and  more  sectarian. 

Mrs.  Trimmer  exhibited  piety  which  was  of  the 
emotional,  almost  of  the  hysterical  kind,  yet  sincere 
in  its  whole-souled  acceptance  of  Bible  truths.  She 
questioned  nothing ;  she  believed  with  a  simple  faith 
that  lacked  proportion.  One  has  to  view  her  en- 
tirely from  the  standpoint  of  this  single  interest 
which  had  her  under  complete  control.  In  her 
"Guardian  of  Education"  she  dwelt  much  upon 
the  dangerous  matter  contained  in  children's  books; 
in  her  ''New  Plan  of  Education"  she  condemned 
any  attempt  to  extend  the  scope  of  education  for 
the  poor.  Her  chief  motive  in  both  cases  was  to 
keep  away  from  faith  any  cause  of  its  possible  un- 
doing. The  earnestness  put  into  her  charity  work, 
her  untiring  devotion  to  the  Sunday-school,  a  certain 
gentle  charm  of  conversation  won  for  Mrs.  Trimmer 
wide-spread  attention.  Her  life  was  guided  by  the 
belief  in  a  divine  mission ;  her  days  were  well  ordered, 
from  the  hours  before  breakfast,  which  she  reserved 
for  the  learning  of  poetry,  to  the  evenings,  when  she 


108  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS   AND  READING 

^\ould  give  herself  up  to  meditation  and  prayer.  In 
fact,  during  twenty-five  years,  she  kept  a  diary,  penned 
in  secret  moments  of  retreat,  a  curious  display  of 
over-welling  feeling — pietistical  neurasthenia.  These 
pages  are  hardly  to  be  considered  interpretative — 
they  are  outpourings,  giving  one  an  awful  sense  of 
unworthiness,  if  life  consists  simply  in  .submitting  to 
biblical  strictures  and  in  uttering  biblical  para- 
phrases. 

But  Mrs.  Trimmer  was  withal  an  active  little 
woman,  whose  three  hours,  spent  every  Sunday  over 
her  journal,  represented  meditation  only;  in  her 
practise  of  Christianity  she  was  zealous;  and  her 
pen  was  employed  in  preparing  the  kind  of  food  to 
foster  a  proper  feeling  among  children  and  cottagers 
and  servants.  In  this  latter  respect  there  was  a 
change  indeed  from  Miss  Edgeworth,  who  considered 
the  advisability  of  separating  young  people  entirely 
from  any  possible  contact  with  servants. 

Among  her  children  and  her  grandchildren,  Mrs. 
Trimmer  exerted  profound  influence;  the  Sabbath 
day  was  ol).sorved  with  great  strictness;  toys  set  aside 
while  Stackhouse's  "  Commentary  on  the  Bible  "  * 
was  brought  forth  to  look  at;  stories  were  told,  and 
the  progress  of  Bible  heroes  traced  upon  maps  of  the 
Holy  Land.  The  spirit  of  rest  and  peace  followed 
Mrs.  Trimmer,  who  was  a\'crse  to  reading  books  of 


*  Charles  Lamb  has  recorded  his  vivid  impressions  of  this  book 
in  "Witches  and  Other  Nipht  Fears." 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     109 

controversy.  We  are  given  a  picture  of  her  in  her 
venerable  old  age,  walking  with  her  grandson  among 
the  plants  and  flowers,  while  she  explained,  with  a 
certain  lyric  simplicity,  the  truths,  as  she  saw  them 
with  her  meek  spirit,  underiying  the  growth  of  the 
grass;  and  described  the  flight  of  a  sparrow  which 
escaped  not  the  notice  of  God.  There  was  thus 
unfolded  to  this  little  boy  the  holiness  of  all  things 
in  nature,  permeated  with  a  divine  grace;  he  was 
made  to  consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  and  not  a 
bush  but  might  become  to  him  a  burning  flame,  not 
a  stone  but  might  be  rent  asunder  by  the  resurrection 
of  a  dried-up  seed. 

Mrs.  Trimmer's  "Easy  Lessons  for  Children," 
her  "Easy  Introduction  to  the  Knowledge  of  Na- 
ture," her  "Sacred  History  for  Young  Persons,"  and 
her  works  explaining  the  catechism,  were  among 
the  rare  books  available  for  the  purposes  of  Raikes's 
followers.  They  were  easily  understood;  they  ex- 
plained satisfactorily  for  children,  according  to  grown- 
up standards,  certain  religious  teachings.  In  the 
Catholic  church  to-day.  Mother  Loyola  is  said  to 
possess  that  same  ability  to  unfold  the  meaning 
of  the  most  difficult  doctrine  so  that  Catholic 
children  can  understand.  Priests  turn  to  her  books 
rather  than  trust  to  their  own  interpretations.  The 
general  interest  aroused  for  the  poor,  for  the  lower 
classes,  appealed  to  ]Mrs.  Trimmer;  she  became 
whollv  absorbed ;  she  wrote  "  The  Servant's  Friend  " 


110  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

and  edited  a  "Family  Magazine,"  intended  for 
their  special  instruction  and  amusement.  Adopting 
Madame  de  Genlis's  idea  of  using  prints  as  a  factor 
in  nursery  education,  she  prepared  a  series  of  illus- 
trations from  ancient  history  and  from  the  Old 
Testament;  and  was  further  en^affed  in  tlie  sim- 
plification  of  Roman  and  English  history  for  young 
readers. 

The  book  that  has  come  down  to  us  as  represent- 
ing Mrs.  Trimmer's  work,  "The  History  of  the 
Robins,"  is  a  nature  story  of  no  mean  value,  easy  in 
narrative  and  full  of  appeal  for  very  young  persons 
who  are  interested  in  simple  incident.  To  American 
readers  it  is  now  available  in  a  cut-up  state,  for  Dr. 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  in  editing  it,  called  the  style 
"stilted"  and  diffuse,  and  thought  that  its  unity 
could  better  be  preserved  by  dealing  only  with  the 
robins,  and  not  at  all  with  the  extraneous  doings  of 
the  Benson  family. 

When  the  liambs  removed  to  Enfield  in  1827, 
Thomas  Westwood,  a  boy  of  thirteen,  lived  near  them . 
It  was  not  long  before  he  and  Elia  were  on  intimate 
terms,  and  he  must  have  had  exceptional  merit  for 
Lamb  to  give  him  free  entree  to  his  books.  "  Lamb," 
so  he  has  recorded,  "initiated  me  into  a  school  of  lit- 
erature which  Mrs.  Trimmer  might  not  luivt;  con- 
.sidered  the  most  salutary  under  the  circumstances. 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  Webster,  Farquhar,  Defoe, 
Fielding, — these   were   the  pastures  in  which  I  de- 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     111 

lighted  to  graze  in  those  early  years;  and  which,  in 
spite  of  Trimmer,  I  believe  did  me  less  evil  than 
good." 

An  alteration  in  attitude  appears  to  have  been 
going  on  in  several  directions;  the  social  strata 
were  readjusting  themselves.  For  Hannah  More 
(1745-1833),  it  is  claimed,  stood  at  the  parting  of 
the  roadways,  where  clergymen  and  schoolmasters, 
once  frowned  upon  as  quite  inferior  beings,  now  took 
positions  of  a  higher  nature.  Had  Miss  More  not 
thrown  herself  so  heartily  into  the  moral  movement, 
she  might  have  occupied  a  much  more  important 
position  in  English  letters  than  she  does.  One  can- 
not help  feeling  that,  by  the  part  she  took  in  the 
Sunday-school  development,  she  sacrificed  her  genius 
to  a  cause.  In  the  biographies  of  these  well-intentioned 
writers  for  children  and  for  poor  people,  it  is  always 
satisfactory  to  linger,  wherever  opportunity  pre- 
sents, on  the  genial  aspects  of  their  lives;  they  are 
estimated  in  criticism  so  greatly  by  the  weight,  or  by 
the  lack  of  weight,  of  their  ideas,  that  the  human 
value  which  existed  at  the  time  is  often  lost  sight  of. 
However  dry  their  preachments,  their  social  lives 
were  warmed  by  human  intercourse  and  human 
service.  It  is  hard  to  forget  such  a  group  as  Scott, 
Maria  and  Patty  Edgeworth,  and  others,  listening 
to  Patty  while  she  sang  Irish  melodies.  A  similar 
scene  is  associated  with  Sally  and  Hannah  More 
when  they  went  to  call  on  Dr.  Johnson.     He  was 


112  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

not  at  home,  and  the  two,  left  together  in  the  auto- 
crat's sanctum,  disported  themselves  in  mock 
humour.  Hannah  approached  his  great  chair,  and 
sat  pompously  in  it,  hoping  to  catch  some  of  his  ge- 
nius. Can  you  not  hear  Johnson's  laughter  as  he 
bluntly  told  her,  when  he  was  informed  of  the  inci- 
dent, that  he  rarely  sat  in  that  particular  chair  ? 

Mrs.  Barbauld  was  no  less  clever  than  Hannah 
More  in  the  handling  of  witty  verse;  in  fact,  the  latter 
was  ever  ready  with  her  gifts  in  the  drawing-room, 
and  added  generously  her  share  to  the  circle  gathered 
around  the  actor,  David  Garrick.  He  it  was  who 
had  sufficient  faith  in  Miss  More's  dramatic  ability 
to  present  two  of  her  plays.  Even  at  that  time  she 
had  a  reputation  among  her  associates  for  being 
very  strict  in  her  religious  observances;  for  one  eve- 
ning, it  being  Sunday,  and  Garrick  not  averse  to 
piano-playing,  he  turned  to  "  Nine,"  as  he  called  her, 
thus  indicating  that  she  was  a  favoured  one  among  the 
muses,  and  told  her  to  leave  the  room,  promising  to 
call  her  back  when  the  music  was  over. 

Hannah  INIore's  social  work  is  to  be  considered 
from  the  year  (1789)  that  Mr.  Wilbcrforce,  one  of 
her  close  friends,  discovered  the  deplorable  condi- 
tions existing  in  the  districts  around  Cheddarcliff. 
Her  long  intercourse  with  the  Garricks,  and  her 
various  literary  endeavours  which  took  form  during 
1782  in  her  "Sacred  Dramas"  for  the  young,  have 
no  direct  bearing  upon  her  connection  with  the  re- 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     113 

ligious  movement  which  places  her  in  the  general 
scheme  with  Robert  Raikes  and  Mrs.  Trimmer. 
Patty  More  had  had,  at  an  eariier  period,  large  ex- 
perience in  school-teaching,  and  this  was  to  prove  of 
inestimable  service,  for  it  was  with  her  assistance 
that  Hannah  carried  on  the  work  in  the  Mendip 
mining  districts.  The  two  met  with  some  opposi- 
tion, not  only  from  the  classes  for  whom  they  were 
specially  striving,  but  from  those  who,  less  broad 
than  themselves,  held  views  regarding  the  Sunday- 
school  that  placed  spirituality  above  the  actual  needs 
of  the  poverty-stricken  communities.  But,  through- 
out, the  jSIores  never  swerved  from  their  set  purpose, 
even  though  illness  overtook  them  and  made  the 
situation  still  harder  than  it  was.  For  they  were 
forced  to  ride  many  miles  from  their  home,  at  first 
unknown  in  the  region  they  had  elected  to  benefit,  a 
region  cursed  by  ignorance,  plagued  by  license,  and 
wherein  assault  was  a  common  incident. 

"Miss  Wilberforce  would  have  been  shocked," 
writes  Hannah  More,  "  could  she  have  seen  the  petty 
tyrants  whose  insolence  we  stroked,  the  ugly  children 
we  fondled,  the  pointers  and  spaniels  we  caressed, 
the  cider  we  commended,  and  the  wine  we  swal- 
lowed." 

A  study  of  the  centres  established  by  these  sisters, 
and  which  gradually  exerted  an  influence  over 
twenty-eight  miles  of  territory,  a  distance  traversed 
in  a  manner  not  unlike  the  journey  of  the  circuit- 


114  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

riders  who  are  to  be  met  with  throughout  the  moun- 
tain districts  of  the  South,  would  throw  considerable 
light  on  English  labour  conditions  as  they  then  ex- 
isted. The  setting  is  an  isolated  wild  land,  thus 
described  by  Miss  More: 

"Several  of  the  grown-up  youths  had  been  tried 
at  the  last  assizes;  three  were  the  children  of  a 
person  lately  condemned  to  be  hanged;  many 
thieves, — all  ignorant,  profane,  and  vicious  beyond 
belief.  Of  this  banditti,  we  have  enlisted  170;  and 
when  the  clergyman,  a  hard  man,  who  is  also  the 
magistrate,  saw  these  creatures  kneeling  around  us, 
whom  he  had  seldom  seen  but  to  commit,  or  punish 
in  some  way,  he  burst  into  tears." 

The  work  grew  with  the  months,  and  mention  is 
soon  made  of  nine  hundred  children  flocking  to  a 
Mendip  feast — little  ones  whose  brightest  moments 
were  centred  in  the  regular  visits  of  these  minister- 
ing ladies. 

]Miss  ^Slore's  powers  were  exerted  toward  coun- 
teracting the  ideas  being  spread  by  the  French 
Revolution;  both  high  and  low  were  struggling 
against  them;  they  nearly  swamped  the  genius  of 
Wordsworth.  Though  she  rejoiced  in  the  fall  of  the 
Bastille,  she  deplored  the  deification  of  Nature  and 
the  reign  of  Reason,  and  vented  her  sarcasm  on  the 
philosophy  of  Paine.  Iler  chief  alarm  was  felt  for 
the  effect  such  opinions  might  have  upon  the  middle 
class  of  England.     But,  despite   her  conservatism. 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     115 

Miss  More  was  regarded  as  too  strong-minded  for 
religious  work;  the  High  Church  accused  her  of 
too  marked  an  independence.  She  was  advised, 
much  to  her  own  amusement,  to  pubHsh  a  con- 
fession of  her  faith.  The  discussion  which  ensued 
need  not  occupy  us;  it  may,  perhaps,  have  infused 
into  her  juvenile  tracts  a  more  determined  tone,  but 
it  did  not  originally  encourage  her  in  their  com- 
position. 

This  was  brought  about  through  a  desire  to  give 
the  children  of  the  poor  districts  religious  literature 
as  soon  as  they  were  able  to  read.  Mrs.  Trimmer 
was  the  only  author  then  available,  and  her  books 
were  too  expensive  for  the  masses.  The  More  sisters, 
therefore,  soliciting  the  interest  of  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  brother  of  George  III,  began  the  publi- 
cation of  the  tracts,  three  a  month,  containing  short 
talks,  ballads,  and  moral  tales.  These  were  scattered 
broadcast  over  the  country.  The  scheme  lasted 
from  1794  to  1797,  when  they  were  forced  to  discon- 
tinue it,  for  lack  of  pecuniary  backing.  But,  during 
the  time,  collections  of  "Repository  Tracts"  had 
been  brought  into  existence,  which,  for  at  least  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  were  to  stand  representative  of 
the  best  kind  of  reading  for  the  poor. 

A  long  list  of  books  comprises  the  literary  activity 

of  Hannah  More,*  but  it  is  by  such  volumes  as  her 

*  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  longevity  of  many  of  the  women 
writers  of  this  period.  Both  Miss  Edgeworth  and  Mrs.  Barbauld 
died  in  their  eighty-second  vear,  while  Miss  More  reached  the 


116  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

"Christian  Morals,"  "Hints  toward  Forming  the 
Character  of  a  Young  Princess  [Charlotte,  Princess 
of  Wales],"  "Practical  Piety,"  "The  Spirit  of 
Prayer,"  "Strictures  on  the  Modern  System  of 
Female  Education,"  and  "Thoughts  on  the  Impor- 
tance of  Manners"  that  her  genuine  art  is  over- 
clouded. In  her  "Repository  Tracts,"  she  was 
content  to  approach  the  poor  as  a  class,  nor  was  she 
willing  to  allow  herself  to  forget  for  an  instant  that, 
because  of  their  poverty,  they  were  a  type  of  inferior 
being.  Her  object  was  to  make  them  content  with 
their  lot  in  life,  and  to  have  them  feel  comfortable 
and  worthy  within  their  particular  sphere.  They 
were  potential  with  the  strength  that  might  place 
them  at  the  head  of  their  class,  but  could  not  carry 
them  outside  of  it.  An  insurmountable  barrier  was 
thought  to  stretch  between  the  high  and  low. 

"  The  Shepherd  of  Salisbury  Plain  "  is  considered 
the  most  famous  of  ]Miss  More's  tracts.  They  all 
are  redolent  with  the  common  moral  ideal,  but  the 
local  colour  in  them  is  real  and  the  glimpses  of  tlie 
poor  people,   their  homes,  customs,  beliefs,  hopes, 

ripe  age  of  cirjhty-eight.  Mrs.  Trimmer,  nearing  seventy,  was 
tlius  comparatively  young  at  the  time  of  her  <ieath.  A  glimpse 
of  Miss  More  at  seventy-nine  is  left  in  the  reniiniseenccs  of  the 
original  IVter  Parley,  who  \-isited  her,  circa  18-23,  much  as  a 
devout  pilgrim  would  make  a  special  journey.  He  wrote:  ''She 
was  small  and  wasted  away.  Iler  attire  was  of  dark-red  bomba- 
zine, made  loose  like  a  dressing-gown.  Tier  eyi^s  were  lilack  and 
penetrating,  her  face  glowing  with  cheerfulness,  through  a  lace- 
work  of  wrinkles.  Her  head-dress  was  a  modification  of  the 
coiffure  of  her  earlier  days — the  hair  being  slightly  frizzled,  and 
lightly  powdered,  yet  the  whole  group  of  moderate  dimensions." 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     117 

and  despairs  are  described  with  minute  vividness  and 
with  much  feeling.  Whatever  brightness  they  con- 
tain is  the  sort  that  is  gained  by  way  of  contrast, — 
an  ethical  resolve  to  show  that  things  are  not  so  bad 
that  they  may  not  still  be  worse.  "Father,"  says 
the  little  girl,  "  I  wish  I  was  big  enough  to  say  grace. 
I  am  sure  I  would  say  it  heartily  to-day;  for  I  was 
thinking  what  jpoor  people  do  who  have  no  salt  to 
their  potatoes." 

The  standard  is  a  narrow  one ;  the  child  who  does 
not  go  to  church  is  the  bad  child ;  the  lack  of  a  new 
gown  fades  before  the  delights  over  owning  a  new 
Bible.  Instead  of  marking  books,  as  the  Edge- 
worths  advised.  Miss  More  italicised  the  passages 
worthy  of  memorising.  Honest  toil  is  the  subject- 
matter  of  these  stories;  the  village  is  the  scene  of 
many  a  vexation.  The  gaining  of  knowledge  is  only 
a  means  toward  a  better  understanding  of  the  cate- 
chism; one's  duty  is  to  learn  to  read,  else  the  Holy 
Writ  is  a  closed  subject.  There  is  no  aim  to  carry 
the  children  outside  of  themselves  by  means  of  the 
highest  imagination;  they  are  told  how  they  are 
to  cope  with  their  own  environment,  how  to  remain 
satisfied  with  their  own  station.  They  must  be 
rich  Christians,  but  still  remain  poor  people. 

Although  Walpole  retracted  some  of  the  harsh 
censure  which  he  at  first  heaped  upon  Hannah 
More,  he  was  not  far  wrong  in  his  condemnation 
of  her  "ill-natured  strictures."     The  person  who 


118   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

does  not  recognise  a  tendency,  in  all  this  literature, 
"to  protract  the  imbecility  of  cliildhood,"  "to  ar- 
rest the  understanding  instead  of  advancing  it,"  "  to 
give  forwardness  without  strength"  has  failed  to 
understand  the  true  function  of  a  child's  book — to 
afford  the  nursery  a  good  time,  is  the  way  INIr.  Lucas 
expresses  it. 

Was  there  not  something  in  this  religious  one- 
sidedness  to  belittle  the  true  dignity  of  the  spirit  ?  * 
Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy,  and  we  find 
ourselves  in  a  beautiful  land  of  promise;  we  are 
placed  therein  to  face  the  years;  by  experience,  by 
training,  by  guidance  along  the  lines  of  our  own 
natures,  we  are  prepared  to  understand  something  of 
the  character  of  the  way  we  shall  have  to  tread 
alone.  We  should  })e  made  to  face  the  future,  but 
not  to  discount  the  present.  We  find  ourselves 
defined  by  circumstances,  but  we  need  not  remain 
slaves  to  them.  To  stigmatise  a  class  in  literature  is 
to  stigmatise  a  reader.  ]Miss  More  and  her  contem- 
poraries never  questioned  their  social  attitude — 
whether  it  was  just  or  broad  or  transitory.  Full  of 
the  pioneer  work  which  they  were  doing,  they  did 
not  recognise  the  right  for  the  poor  which  was  al- 
ready the  right  for  the  rich.  Juvenile  literature  Avas 
not  for  the  heart  of  all  youth,  but  for  the  benefaction 
of  this  one  and  of  that.     And  while  the  educational 

*  Vide  tlif  lay  scnnon  by  Sumuel  ]\rcCord  Crotlicrs,  "  I'lie 
Colonel  in  tlie  'riieoloi^'ifai  Seminary." — Ailantic,  June,  1907. 
Also  Emerson's  essay  on  "Spiritual  Laws." 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     119 

idea  broadened  and  was  to  advance  with  the  scien- 
tific spirit  on  the  one  hand,  on  the  other,  it  had 
narrowed  and  was  destined  for  a  long,  monotonous 
struggle  with  the  conscious  Sunday-school  tale. 
This  character  of  story  was  flat  and  void,  and,  be- 
cause removed  from  the  reality  of  nature,  it  was 
robbed  of  the  inherent  spirit  of  truth.  It  identified 
religion  with  literary  meekness. 

IV.  The  Poets:  Watts;  Jane  and  Ann  Taylor; 
William  Blake. 

Everything  depends  on  the  reality  of  a  poet's  classic 
character.  If  he  is  a  dubious  classic,  let  us  sift  him, ;  if  he 
is  a  false  classic,  let  us  explode  him.  But  if  he  is  a  real 
classic,  if  his  work  belongs  to  the  class  of  the  very  best  (Jor 
this  is  the  true  and  right  meaning  of  the  rvord  classic,  clas- 
sical), then  the  great  thing  for  us  is  to  feel  and  enjoy  his 
work  as  deeply  as  ever  we  can,  arid  to  appreciate  the  wide 
difference  between  it  and  all  work  which  has  not  the  same 
high  character.  This  is  what  is  salutary,  this  is  what  is 
formative;  this  is  the  great  benefit  to  be  got  from  the  study 
of  poetry.  Everything  which  interferes  xoith  it,  which  hin- 
ders it,  is  injurious. — Matthew  Arnold,  in  "  The  Study  of 
Poetry." 

We  have  progressed  sufficiently  in  our  outline  to 
begin  showing  the  links  that  bind  the  past  with  the 
present.  To  dwell  upon  more  writers  of  the  genera- 
tion just  treated  is  simply  to  repeat  the  same  essential 
characteristics  of  the  type.  These  authors  all  used 
the  medium  of  prose  in  their  desire  to  give  young 


120  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

people  books  suitable  to  their  comprehension.  But 
there  were  a  few  poets  who  braved  the  intricacies 
of  verse,  and  who  wrote  some  verj'  simple  and  pleas- 
ing lyrics,  which  have  survived  the  change  in  spirit, 
and  form  some  of  the  most  agreeable  pages  in  our 
children's  anthologies.  It  will  be  recollected  that 
Mrs.  Barbauld  feared  poetry  would  not  be  under- 
stood, and  so  she  wrote  her  volume  of  prose  pieces 
which  acted  as  a  substitute. 

Wordsworth  himself  could  not  have  demanded  a 
more  careful  attention  to  the  simplicity  of  word 
selection  than  that  paid  by  Dr.  Isaac  Watts  (1674- 
1748),  who,  though  not  first  in  the  field  of  hymn- 
writers,  for  his  immediate  predecessor  was  Bishop 
Thomas  Ken*  (1G37-1711),  author  of  "Morning 
and  Daily  H^Tnns,"  was  nevertheless  one  of  the 
very  first  consciously  to  pen  a  book  of  verse  for  a 
juvenile  public. 

Not  only  was  he  actively  engaged  in  the  interests 
of  education,  but,  during  his  famous  thirty-six  years' 
spent  as  visitor  in  the  household  of  Sir  Thomas 
Abney,  of  Newington,  he  crystallised  his  ideas  on 
education,  and  incorporated  them  in  his  "The 
Improvement  of  the  Mind:  To  which  is  added  A 
Discourse  on  the  Education  of  Children  and  Youth." 

This  treatise  may  be  regarded  as  a  fair  example  of 
the  pre-Rousscau  style  of  pedagogy.  The  child  was 
measured  in  terms  of  sectarian  standards,  it  being 
*  Vide  Aliss  Strickland's  "  Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops." 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED  LIBRARY     121 

assumed  that  the  first  step  was  to  impress  him  with  the 
truth  that  his  very  nature  was  sinful,  and  that  it  could 
be  shrived  only  by  having  the  mind  centred  always 
upon  holy  thoughts.  The  religion  of  the  closet 
must  be  held  above  every  pleasure.  Yet  Dr.  Watts 
notices  that  such  pleasures  are  increasing  to  an 
alarming  state;  that  children  are  rebelling  against 
Puritan  principles.  His  sternness  relents,  in  so  far 
as  he  would  allow  children  to  play  draughts  and 
chess,  and  to  amuse  themselves  with  games  which 
might  instruct  them  in  the  rudiments  of  grammar 
and  geometry. 

Though  there  are  not  many  who  would  discoun- 
tenance his  diatribe  against  the  gaming  table,  the 
dangers  besetting  midnight  revellers,  and  the  freedom 
which  results  in  immorality,  one  cannot  but  view 
with  distrust  the  strictures  which  would  turn  girls 
into  dowdy  creatures  and  boys  into  prigs.  The 
theoretical  predecessors  of  Rousseau's  Emile  were 
the  two  creations  of  Dr.  Watts, — Eugenio  and 
Phronissa — his  ideal  children,  combining  those 
qualities  which  rob  youth  of  all  charm.  Theirs 
must  have  been  wearisome  lives.  The  boy,  we  are 
told,  "  is  an  entertaining  companion  to  the  gay  young 
gentlemen,  his  equals;  and  yet  divines  and  philoso- 
phers take  pleasure  to  have  Eugenio  amongst 
them."  Dr.  Watts  never  deigned  to  tell  us  what 
requirements  Eugenio  set  for  the  staid  divines,  or 
whether   he    tried   to   get   away   from   them.     And 


122  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Phronissa:  she  stands  before  us  now,  in  attitude  be- 
tokening detestation  of  the  stage,  and  we  hear  her 
proclaiming  the  song  and  the  dance  as  her  meanest 
pleasures — talents  not  to  be  proud  of! 

Two  points  are  worthy  of  note  in  Dr.  Watts' 
book.  Despite  his  many  limitations  which  argued 
for  piousness  and  for  the  composure  of  the  youthful 
spirit;  despite  liis  disapproval  of  all  exercise  which 
might  turn  one's  thoughts  away  from  the  prescribed 
paths,  he  was  nevertheless  a  pleader  in  the  cause  of 
advance.  For  what  he  lays  down  as  educational 
theory  he  would  have  parents  hearken  to;  in  his 
eyes  the  bringing  up  of  youth  is  a  sacred  duty,  in- 
volving obligations  of  a  delicate  nature.  He  would 
emphasise  the  responsibility  of  the  Home ;  he  would 
have  parents  eager  to  see  the  moral  laws  obeyed  by 
their  children.  He  would  have  education  applied 
equally  as  well  to  girls  as  to  boys;  in  fact,  so  Dr. 
Watts  confesses,  in  tones  as  though  he  were  making 
a  great  concession,  the  habit  of  reading  is  quite  as 
important  to  the  former  as  to  the  latter. 

Dark  as  the  days  may  seem  in  the  lives  of  those 
children  educated  according  to  theories  and  tracts, 
the  lighter  recreations  must  have  brightened  mo- 
ments unrecorded.  Even  John  Locke  (1632-1704), 
in  his  "Thoughts  on  Education"  (1693),  recom- 
mends besides  the  Psalter  and  the  New  Testament, 
yEsop  and  Reynard  the  Fox,  as  good  food  for  infant 
minds.     This  was  an  excellent  basis  to  start  upon. 


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The  two  small  volumes  of  "  Divine  Songs,  Attempt- 
ed in  Easy  Language  for  the  Use  of  Children  "  [edi- 
tions. New  York:  Mahlon  Day;  Cambridge:  1803] 
which  I  have  examined,  bear  upon  the  fly-leaves  tales 
recorded  in  uncertain  handwriting.     The  one  has, 

"  To ,  a  present  from  his  Mamma  " ;  the  other, 

" his  Book :    If  this  should  be  lost  and  you 

should  fine.  Return  to  me,  for  it  is  mine.'* 

"You  will  find  here  nothing  that  savours  of 
party,"  says  the  poet  in  his  foreword.  ".  .  .  As  I 
have  endeavoured  to  sink  the  language  to  the  level 
of  a  child's  understanding,  and  yet  to  keep  it,  if 
possible,  above  contempt,  so  I  have  designed  to 
profit  all,  if  possible,  and  to  offend  none." 

Yet  the  usual  theological  doctrines  reek  from  every 
page ;  there  is  much  of  the  tenor  of  the  "  New  England 
Primer"  in  the  verses.  The  wonder  is  that  with  all 
their  atmosphere  of  brimstone  and  sulphur,  with 
all  their  effort  to  present  to  the  child  grown-up 
beliefs  in  simple  doses,  the  poems  still  retain  a  spon- 
taneity, a  sweet,  quaint  simplicity  that  strike  the 
sympathy,  if  they  do  not  entirely  appeal  to  the  fancy. 
"His  dreadful  Majesty"  is  more  suited  to  Milton 
than  to  a  song;  "How  doth  the  little  busy  bee," 
though  not  yet  in  accord  with  the  lyrist's  pure,  un- 
feigned delight  in  nature,  is  overtopping  in  childish 
appeal,  "The  eternal  God  will  not  disdain.  To 
hear  an  infant  cry."  We  pit  an  understanding  of 
childhood's  graces  against  that  old-time  theory  of 


124  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

inherited  ruin.  There  has  been  a  revulsion  of 
feeling  which  tends  to  bring  the  heart  much  nearer 
the  soul,  and  to  give  to  the  nursery  the  sanctified  love 
of  good  rather  than  the  abiding  fear  of  evil. 

There  is  a  picture  in  Lamb's  "  Books  for  Children" 
[ed.  E.  V.  Lucas],  showing  the  ark  with  the  animals 
in  their  symmetrically  built  stalls.  The  clouds  are 
rolling  over  the  waters  with  as  much  substantial 
outline  as  though  they  were  balls  of  cotton ;  there  is 
interest  for  a  child  in  the  close  examination  of  this 
graphic  art,  which  is  done  with  that  surety  as  though 
the  artist  had  been  on  the  spot.  The  reproduction 
was  made  from  Stackhouse's  Bible,  with  which  Mrs. 
Trimmer  used  to  amuse  her  young  folks  on  Sundays. 
Your  wooden  Noah's  Ark,  with  the  sticky  animals, 
was  built  along  the  same  lines.  Dr.  Watts's  poems 
have  been  illustrated  many  times  in  similar  conven- 
tional fashion.  One  cut  in  particular  represented 
creation  by  a  dreadful  lion  and  a  marvellous  tiger, 
anatomically  wonderful. 

Though  parts  of  the  Bible  have  been  paraphrased 
by  Dr.  Watts  as  well  as  .such  can  ever  be  done; 
though  ducks  and  lambs  and  doves,  symbols  of 
simplicity,  take  one  to  the  open,  there  is  no  breath 
of  clover  sweeping  across  the  page.  It  is  by  such 
a  beautiful  cradle  hymn  as  "  Holy  angels  guard  thy 
bed,"  which  is  to  be  treasured  with  Martin  lAither's 
exquisite  "  Hymn  to  the  Christ  Child,"  that  this  poet 
deserves  to  be  remembered. 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     125 

Always  the  truest  verse,  the  truest  sentiment,  the 
truest  regard  for  children  are  detected  in  that  retro- 
spective tone — the  eternal  note  of  sadness,  as  Matthew 
Arnold  phrases  it — in  which  grown  people  speak 
of  the  realm  of  youth  lost  to  them;  not  the  sen- 
timental stooping,  not  the  condescending  supe- 
riority,— but  a  yearning  note  brought  about  by  the 
tragedy  of  growing  up, — a  yearning  that  passe th 
understanding,  and  that  returns  with  every  flash  of 
the  remembered  child  you  were. 

The  Taylors  of  Ongar,  the  two  sisters,  Ann  (1782- 
1866)  and  Jane  (1783-1824),  are  the  poets  of  the 
didactic  era;  they  apply  to  verse  the  same  charac- 
teristics Miss  More  introduced  in  her  tracts — a 
sympathetic  feeling,  but  a  false  tenderness.  They 
are  not  doctrinal  in  their  "Original  Poems  for 
Infant  Minds, "  but  are  generally  and  genu- 
inely ethical.  Their  attitude  is  different  from 
that  of  Watts;  they  attempt  to  interpret  feelings 
and  impressions  in  terms  of  the  child's  own  com- 
prehension. But  so  far  were  they  ruled  by  the 
customary  requirements  of  their  time,  that  they 
falsely  endowed  the  juvenile  mind  with  the  power 
of  correlating  external  beauty  with  its  own  virtuous 
possibilities.  The  simplicity  of  Jane's  "  The  Violet " 
and  "Thank  you.  Pretty  Cow"  is  marked  by  an 
unnatural  discrimination  on  the  part  of  the  children 
from  whom  such  sentiments  are  supposed  to  flow; 
these  defects  detract  from  many  a  delicate  verse 


126  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

deserving  of  better  acquaintance  than  "Twinkle, 
twinkle,  little  star." 

The  Taylors  wrote  together  for  a  number  of  years; 
they  opened  a  field  of  interest  in  and  kindness  to 
animals;  their  verse  abounds  in  the  beginnings  of  a 
spontaneous  love  of  nature.  Their  children  troop 
past  us,  the  industrious  boy  and  the  idle  boy,  the 
rich  and  the  poor.  They  are  not  active  children; 
their  positions  are  fixed  ones  of  contemplation,  of 
inward  communing,  not  of  participation.  Yet  the 
sweet  spirit  predominates,  and  the  simple  words  are 
not  robbed  of  their  purity  and  strength.  However, 
their  desire  "to  abridge  every  poetic  freedom  and 
figure"  dragged  them  often  into  absurdities.  This 
is  the  great  danger  in  writing  simple  verse;  unless 
its  excellence  is  dominant,  it  shows  its  weakness; 
the  outline  of  lyric  beauty  must  have  perfect  sym- 
metry; the  slightest  falsity  in  imagery,  the  slightest 
departure  from  consistency  and  truth,  destroys  the 
whole.* 

Jane,  when  she  was  very  small,  used  to  edify  her 
neighbours  by  preaching  to  them;  this  impulse 
found  expression  later  in  a  series  of  hymns.  Ann 
also  composed  religious  songs  which  in  quality  are 
superior  to  those  of  her  sister.  The  literary  associa- 
tion of  the  two  lasted  until  1812,  when  Ann  was 
sought  in  marriage  by  a  Mr.  Gilbert;    this  negotia- 

*  For  Jane  Taylor,  7nde  "  Contributions  of  QQ;"  "Essays 
in  Rh\-n)es  on  Morals  and  IManncrs."  For  Ann  Taylor,  i^ide 
"  Hymns  for  Infant  Schools." 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     127 

tion  was  consummated  by  letter  before  they  had  even 
met. 

A  further  advance  in  the  art  of  children's  verse 
was  made  when  William  Blake  (1757-1827)  wrote 
his  "Songs  of  Innocence,"  and  infused  into  them  a 
light  spirit  of  grace  and  of  joy.  Strangely,  he  had 
diflSculty  in  disposing  of  his  poems;  on  this  account, 
he  determined  to  prepare  the  plates  for  them  himself. 
The  drawings  which  resulted  proved  to  be  some  of 
his  very  best  art  work.  Through  his  acquaintance 
with  Godwin,  he  was  employed  to  illustrate  many  of 
the  books  issuing  from  Mrs.  Godwin's  publishing 
house,  and  it  has  not  yet  been  fully  settled  whether 
or  not  he  made  the  original  illustrations  for  the 
Lambs'  "Tales  from  Shakespeare."  He  was  em- 
ployed to  engrave  the  plates  for  Mary  Wollstone- 
craft's  translation  of  Salzmann's  "Elements  of 
MoraUty." 

We  detect  in  Blake's  verses  the  apt  blending 
of  grown-up  regard  for  childhood,  with  the  ready 
response  of  childhood  to  grown-up  love.  By  his 
exuberance,  by  his  fancy,  by  his  simple  treatment 
he  set  a  standard  which  is  the  same  that  dominates 
the  best  of  Wordsworth  and  Christina  Rossetti. 
Stevenson  later  carried  forward  the  art,  by  adding 
thereto  a  touch  as  though  youth,  fearful  of  growing 
up,  knew  something  of  the  heavy  burden  of  man's 
estate.     Thus  does  Blake  express  infant  joy: 


128  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

"I  have  no  name: 

I  am  but  two  days  old." 

What  shall  I  call  thee  ? 
"I  happy  am, 

Joy  is  my  name." 

Sweet  joy  befall  thee. 

The  crystal  clearness  in  such  sentiment  is  born  of 
our  adult  reverence.  Again  he  makes  the  nurse  in 
one  of  his  poems  sing: 

"Then  come  home,  my  children,  the  sun  is  going  down, 
And  the  dews  of  night  arise; 
Come,  come,  leave  off  play,  and  let  us  away 
Till  the  morning  appears  in  the  skies." 

A  child  appreciates  such  mellow  tones;  there  is  no 
reaching  down;  the  picture  is  distinct,  reduced  to  its 
truest  sentiment.  It  contains  traceries  of  action,  and 
fairest  hints  of  beneficent  nature.  It  gives  a  promise 
of  to-morrow.  There  is  no  herding  into  the  land 
of  sleep.  Let  vs  away!  Do  you  not  feel  the  distinc- 
tion of  dignity  in  it,  rather  than  "  get  you  to  bed  "  ? 

In  Stevenson's  verse  the  dominant  note  is  retro- 
spective; he  returns  to  childhood  with  his  quota  of 
world  experience;  he  slips  into  the  youthful  state, 
glad  of  being  there  once  more,  yet  knowing  what  it 
all  means  to  have  to  leave  it  again.  Night  fears  and 
day  joys  flow  through  his  lines: 

"Away  down  the  river 
A  hundred  miles  or  more, 
Other  little  children 
Shall  bring  my  boats  ashore. 


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There  is  the  preternatural  strain  of  sadness  in  the 
make-up  of  youth;  they  hke  to  discover  in  their 
elders  those  same  characteristics  they  possess;  they 
will  creep  to  the  strong  arm  of  him  who  marvels  as 
they  do  at  the  mystery  of  silent  things.  Such  a  one, 
even  though  grown-up,  is  worth  while;  he  knows 
what  it  is  to  be  in  bed  in  summer  with  "  the  birds 
still  hopping  on  the  grass";  he  knows  what  it  is  to 
be  a  child.  Stevenson,  the  man,  becomes  the  remem- 
bered boy. 

The  poetry  for  children  that  has  lived  is  of  that 
quality  which  appeals  to  the  pristine  sense  of  all 
that  is  fair  and  good  and  beautitul.  Tender  love, 
unfettered  joy,  protecting  gentleness  recognise  no 
age;  we,  who  are  no  longer  young,  look  through  the 
barred  gates  and  up  the  gravel  road,  flanked  by  the 
dense  freshness  of  green.  Somewhere  we  hear  the 
splash  of  water,  far  off  we  see  the  intense  white  of 
marble.  Clinging  to  the  iron  bars  outside,  we 
watch  the  girl  and  boy,  we  count  their  footprints  in 
the  sand.  They  stoop  to  pick  the  violets  as  we 
stooped  years  ago;  they  look  into  the  basin  of  clear 
water  as  we  looked  years  ago.  And  then  the  path 
curves  out  of  view.  Here  is  where  our  appreciative 
contemplation  of  childhood  becomes  self-conscious; 
we  cannot  see  the  little  ones  doing  what  we  did  in 
years  gone  by.  Perhaps  this,  perhaps  that;  we 
have  our  first  moral  doubt.  Through  the  bars  we 
call  to  the  childhood  of  our  memory;   we  call  it  to 


130  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

come  back.  The  poet  has  but  to  sing  of  what  he 
found  beyond  that  bend  when  he  was  young,  of  the 
child  he  was,  who  once  looked  up  at  him  from  the 
clear  depths;  the  boy  and  girl  will  creep  down 
the  gravel  path  again,  they  will  marvel  at  what  is 
told  them  of  revolving  suns,  of  the  lost  childhood, 
of  the  flight  of  birds,  and  of  the  shiver  of  grass.  Let 
the  poet  but  sing  in  true  notes,  making  appeal  to 
their  imagery,  giving  them  vigour  in  exchange  for 
their  responsiveness,  and  understanding  in  exchange 
for  their  trust;  they  will  return,  even  to  the  iron  gate, 
and  take  him  by  the  hand.  This  is  what  it  means 
to  be  the  laureate  of  childhood. 

V.  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb;  The  Godwins. 

A  story  is  told  of  Charles  Lamb  which,  in  view  of 
actual  facts,  one  must  necessarily  disbelieve.  It  is 
to  the  effect  that,  dining  out  one  evening,  he  heard 
in  an  adjoining  room  the  noise  of  many  children. 
With  his  glass  filled,  he  rose  from  his  chair  and 
drank  the  toast,  "  Here's  to  the  health  of  good  King 
Herod."  Instinctively,  those  familiar  with  Elia 
will  recollect  his  "Dream  Children,"  and  wonder 
how  any  critic  could  reconcile  the  two  attitudes. 
Lamb  had  an  abiding  love  for  young  people  and  a 
keen  understanding  of  their  natures. 

As  writers  of  juvenile  literature,  Charles  (1775- 
1834)  and  Mary   (17G5-1847)   Lamb  might  never 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     131 

have  been  known,  had  it  not  been  for  William  God- 
win (1756-1836)  and  his  second  wife.  The  two 
began  a  publishing  business,  in  1805,  under  the  firm 
name  of  M.  J.  Godwin  and  Company.  The  only 
details  that  concern  us  are  those  which  began  and 
ended  with  the  Lambs  and  their  work.  Godwin, 
himself,  under  the  pseudonym  of  Baldwin,  turned 
out  literary  productions  of  various  kinds.  But 
though,  during  one  period,  there  was  every  sign  of  a 
flourishing  trade,  by  1822  the  business  was  bankrupt. 

The  Lambs  regarded  their  writings  for  children 
as  pot-boilers;  letters  from  them  abound  with  such 
confessions.  But  it  was  in  their  natures  to  treat  their 
work  lovingly;  their  own  personalities  entered  the 
text;  they  drew  generously  upon  themselves;  and  so 
their  children's  books  are  filled  with  their  own  ex- 
periences, and  are,  in  many  respects,  as  autobio- 
graphical as  the  "  Essays  of  Elia."  Mary  undertook 
by  far  the  larger  number  of  the  volumes  which  are 
usually  accredited  to  her  brother;  in  fact,  where  ver  the 
two  collaborated.  Lamb  occupied  a  secondary  place. 

The  following  list  indicates  the  division  of  labour: 

The  King  and  Queen  op  Hearts,  1805.  Lamb's  first 
juvenile  work. 

Tales  from  Shakespeare,  1807.  Lamb  wrote  to 
Manning,  May  10,  1806:  "I  have  done  'Othello'  and 
*  Macbeth,'  and  mean  to  do  all  the  tragedies.  I  think 
it  will  be  popular  among  the  little  people,  besides 
money." 


132   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Adventures  of  Ulysses,  1808.  "Intended,"  as  Lamb 
told  Manning,  "to  be  an  introduction  to  the  read- 
ing of  Telemachus;  it  is  done  out  of  the  'Odyssey,' 
not  from  the  Greek.  I  would  not  mislead  you;  nor 
yet  from  Pope's 'Odyssey,' but  from  an  older  transla- 
tion of  one  Chapman.  The  'Shakespeare  Tales'  sug- 
gested doing  it."  Lamb's  delight  in  Chapman  was 
as  unalloyed  as  that  of  Keats. 

Mrs.  Leicester's  School,  1809.  Issued  anonymously, 
hence  commonly  ascribed  to  Lamb.  The  greater  part 
of  the  work  belongs  to  Mary;  it  seems  to  have  been  her 
idea  originally.  Lamb  to  Barton,  January  23,  1824: 
"  My  Sister's  part  in  the  Leicester  School  (about  two- 
thirds)  was  purely  her  own;  as  it  was  (to  the  same 
quantity)  in  the  Shakespeare  Tales  which  bear  my  name. 
I  wrote  only  the  Witch  Aunt,  the  First  Going  to 
Church,  and  the  final  story  about  a  little  Indian  Girl  in 
a  Ship." 

Poetry  for  Children,  1809.  Lamb  claimed  about 
one-third  of  the  book  as  his  own.  Mr.  Lucas  be- 
lieves that  Mrs.  Godwin  issued  these  verses  to  compete 
with  the  Taylors  and  Adelaide  O'Keeffe. 

Prince  Dorus  or  Flattery  Put  Out  of  Countenance, 
1811.  Robinson  wrote :  "I  this  year  tried  to  persuade 
him  [Lamb]  to  make  a  new  ver.sion  of  the  old  Tale  of 
Reynard  the  Fox.  He  said  he  was  sure  it  would  not 
succeed — sense  for  humour,  said  L.,  is  extinct."  "  Prince 
Dorus"  was  done  instead. 

Beauty  and  the  Beast,  1811.      Authorship  doubtful. 

There  is  something  keenly  pathetic  in  noting  the 
brother  and  sister  at  work  in  the  interests  of  children, 
hoping  to  add  to  their  yearly  income — sitting  down 
together    and    thinking    out    conceptions    for    their 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     133 

juvenile  poems  and  stories.  Mary  Lamb  reveals,  by 
those  smaller  elements  in  her  prose,  a  keener  discern- 
ment of  what  a  child's  book  should  be;  she  is  far 
more  successful  than  her  brother  in  entering  into 
the  spirit  of  the  little  lives  she  writes  about,  while 
Lamb  himself  is  happiest  in  his  touches  where  he 
is  handling  the  literary  subjects.*  But  on  the 
whole.  Lamb's  style  was  not  suited  to  the  making 
of  children's  books.  We  see  them,  while  writing 
the  Shakespeare  Tales,  seated  at  one  table,  "an 
old  literary  Darby  and  Joan,"  Mary  tells  Sarah 
Stoddart,  "I  taking  snuff  and  he  groaning  all  the 
while,  and  saying  he  can  make  nothing  of  it,  which 
he  always  says  till  he  has  finished,  and  then  he  finds 
out    he    has    made    something    of    it.  .  .  ." 

Mrs.  Godwin  doubtless  conceived  her  system  of 
advertising  direct  from  Newbery;  in  the  story  of 
"  Emily  Barton,"  which  forms  part  of  "  Mrs.  Leices- 
ter's School,"  Mary  Lamb  tells  how  Emily's  papa 
ordered  the  coachman  to  drive  to  the  Juvenile 
Library  in  Skinner  street  [No.  41],  where  seven 
books  were   bought,   "and    the   lady  in  the  shop 

*  Frederic  Harrison,  in  his  "The  Choice  of  Books,"  (Macmillan, 
1886)  writes: 

"  Poor  Lamb  has  not  a  little  to  answer  for,  in  the  revived  relish 
for  garbage  unearthed  from  old  theatrical  dung-heaps.  Be  it 
just  or  earnest,  I  have  little  patience  with  the  Elia-tic  pliilosophy 
of  the  frivolous.  Why  do  we  still  suffer  the  traditional  hypocrisy 
about  the  dignity  of  literature, — literature  I  mean,  in  the  gross, 
which  includes  about  equal  parts  of  what  is  useful  and  what  is 
useless  P  Why  are  books  as  books,  writers  as  writers,  readers  as 
readers,  meritorious,  apart  from  any  good  in  them,  or  anything 
that  we  can  get  from  tnem?" 


134   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

persuaded  him  to  take  more,  but  mamma  said  that 
was  quite  enough  at  present." 

By  this,  the  Lambs  indicated  a  wilUngness  to 
accord  with  any  business  suggestions  which  might 
further  the  interests  of  the  Godwins;  nevertheless, 
they  were  not  so  bound  that  they  could  not  act  in- 
dependently. And,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Lamb 
disliked  Mrs.  Godwin,  there  was  a  certain  gracious- 
ness  revealed  in  the  concessions  they  did  make  from 
time  to  time.  Elia  was  to  discover  that  Godwin  had 
his  eye  alert  for  any  unnecessary  element  of  cruelty 
which  might  creep  into  their  books  for  children. 
When  the  publishers  were  given  the  manuscript  of 
"  Ulysses,"  Godwin  wrote  a  letter  to  Lamb,  on  IVIarch 
10,  1808,  which,  with  the  answer,  is  worth  quoting, 
since  the  attitude  is  one  to  be  considered  by  all 
writers  and  by  all  library  custodians. 

Dear  Lamb: 

I  address  you  with  all  humility,  because  I  know  you  to 
be  tcnax  propositi.     Hear  me,  I  entreat  you,  with  patience. 

It  is  strange  with  what  different  feehngs  an  author  and 
a  bookseller  look  at  the  same  manuscript.  I  know  this 
by  experience:  I  was  an  author,  I  am  a  bookseller.  The 
author  thinks  what  will  conduce  to  his  honour;  the  book- 
seller, what  will  cause  his  commodities  to  sell. 

You,  or  some  other  wise  man,  I  have  heard  to  say  [it  was 
Johnson]:  It  is  children  that  read  children's  books,  when 
they  are  read,  but  it  is  parents  that  choose  them.  The 
critical  thought  of  the  tradesman  puts  itself  therefore  into 
the  place  of  the  parent,  and  what  the  parent  will  condemn. 

We  live  in  sfjucamish  days.     ^Vmid  the  beauties  of  your 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     135 

manuscript,  of  which  no  man  can  think  more  highly  than 
I  do,  what  will  the  squeamish  say  to  such  expressions  as 
these,  'devoured  their  limbs,  yet  warm  and  trembling, 
lapping  the  blood,'  page  10.  Or  to  the  giant's  vomit, 
page  14,  or  to  the  minute  and  shocking  description  of  the 
extinguishing  the  giant's  eye  in  the  page  following.  You, 
I  dare  say,  have  no  formed  plan  of  excluding  the  female 
sex  from  among  your  readers,  and  I,  as  a  bookseller,  must 
consider  that,  if  you  have,  you  exclude  one  half  of  the 
human  species. 

Nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  modify  these  things  if  you 
please,  and  nothing,  I  think,  is  more  indispensable.  .  .  . 

The  main  argument  here  stated  daily  confronts 
the  librarian  and  the  author;  it  is  one  so  often  over- 
considered,  that  in  its  wake  it  leaves  a  diluted  litera- 
ture, mild  in  expression,  faint  in  impression,  weak  in 
situation,  and  lacking  in  colour.  There  is  a  certain 
literary  style  that,  through  zealous  regard  for  refine- 
ment, misses  the  rugged  vitality  which  marks  the 
old-time  story,  and  which  constitutes  its  chief  hold 
upon  life.  On  the  other  hand,  children  need  very 
little  stimulation,  provided  it  is  virile,  to  set  them  in 
active  accord;  and  it  is  wise  for  publishers  to  con- 
sider the  omissions  of  those  unnecessary  details, 
situations,  or  actions,  without  which  the  story  is  in 
no  way  harmed.  But  to  curtail  or  to  dilute  the  full 
meaning,  to  give  a  part  for  the  whole,  has  resulted  in 
producing  so  many  versions  of  the  same  tale  or  legend 
as  to  make  the  young  reader  doubt  which  is  the 
correct  one;  and  in  most  cases  leave  in  him  no  de- 
sire to  turn  to  the  original  source.     On  your  library 


136   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

shelves,  are  you  to  have  five  or  six  versions  of  the 
same  story,  issued  by  as  many  rival  publishing 
houses,  or  are  you  to  discard  them  all  and  take  only 
that  one  which  is  nearest  the  original  in  spirit  and 
in  general  excellence  ? 

Lamb  here  brushed  against  the  problem  of  writing 
for  the  popular  taste.     This  is  how  he  met  it: 

March  11,  1808. 
Dear  Godwin: 

The  giant's  vomit  was  perfectly  nauseous,  and  I  am 
glad  you  pointed  it  out.  I  have  removed  the  objection. 
To  the  other  passages  I  can  find  no  objection  but  what 
you  may  bring  to  numberless  passages  besides,  such  as  of 
Scylla  snatching  up  the  six  men,  etc., — that  is  to  say,  they 
are  lively  images  of  shocking  things.  If  you  want  a  book 
which  is  not  occasionally  to  shock,  you  should  not  have 
thought  of  a  tale  which  is  so  full  of  anthropophagi  and 
wonders.  I  cannot  alter  these  things  without  enervating 
the  Book, and  I  will  not  alter  tliem  if  the  penalty  should  be 
that  you  and  all  the  London  booksellers  should  refuse  it. 
But  speaking  as  author  to  author,  I  must  say  that  I  think 
the  terrible  in  those  two  passages  seems  to  me  so  much  to 
preponderate  over  the  nauseous  as  to  make  them  rather 
fine  than  disgusting.  [Rememl>er,  this  is  spoken  by  one 
who  in  youth  was  sensitive  and  whose  feelings  are  graph- 
cally  set  forth  in  "Witches,  and  Other  Night  Fears."]  .  .  . 
I  only  say  that  I  will  not  consent  to  alter  .such  passages, 
which  I  know  to  be  some  of  the  Ix'st  in  the  book.  As  an 
author,  I  say  to  you,  an  author, Touch  not  my  work.  As  to 
a  bookseller  I  say,  Take  the  work,  such  as  it  is,  or  refu.se 
it.  You  are  free  to  refuse  it  as  when  we  first  talked  of  it. 
As  to  a  friend  I  say.  Don't  plague  yourself  and  me  with 
nonsensical  objections.  I  assure  you  I  will  not  alter  one 
more  word. 


THE  OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     137 

Lamb's  critical  genius  often  showed  remarkable 
subtlety  in  the  fine  distinctions  drawn  between 
shades  of  effect  which  are  produced  by  art.  He 
established,  through  his  careful  analyses,  an  almost 
new  critical  attitude  toward  Shakespeare;  and,  in 
days  when  psychology  as  a  study  was  unknown, 
when  people  witnessed  the  different  phases  of 
emotional  life  and  judged  them  before  formulae  were 
invented  by  which  to  test  them  scientifically,  he  saw, 
with  rare  discrimination,  the  part  that  the  spiritual 
value  of  literature  was  to  play  in  the  development  of 
culture.  He  here  weighs  in  the  balance  a  fine  terror 
with  a  nauseous  scene ;  such  a  difference  presupposes 
a  clear  insight  into  the  story  and  a  power  to  arrive 
at  the  full  meaning  at  once;  it  infers  an  instinctive 
knowledge  of  the  whole  gamut  of  possible  effects. 
Lamb's  plea  to  Godwin  is  the  plea  of  the  man  who 
would  rather  keep  a  child  in  the  green  fields  than 
have  him  spend  his  time  on  wishy-washy  matter. 

The  whole  discussion  resolves  itself  into  the 
question :  How  much  of  the  brute  element,  in  which 
early  literature  abounds,  is  to  be  given  to  children  ? 
Shall  they  be  made  to  fear  unnecessarily,  shall  the 
ugly  phases  of  life  be  allowed,  simply  because  they 
come  through  the  ages  stamped  as  classic .'  All  due 
consideration  must  be  paid  to  the  sensitiveness  of 
childhood ;  but  in  what  manner  ?  Xot  by  catering  to 
it,  not  by  eliminating  the  cause  from  the  story  without 
at  the  same  time  seeking  to  strengthen  the  inherent 


138  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

weakness  of  the  child.  Dr.  Felix  Adler  *  would 
remove  from  our  folk-lore  all  the  excrescences  that 
denote  a  false  superstition  and  that  create  prejudice 
of  any  kind;  he  would  have  bad  stepmothers  taken 
from  the  fairy  tales,  because  an  unjust  hatred  for  a 
class  is  encouraged ;  he  would  prune  away  whatever 
is  of  no  ornamental  or  etliical  value.  Assuredly  it 
is  best,  as  Dr.  Adler  points  out,  "  to  eliminate  .  .  . 
whatever  is  merely  a  relic  of  ancient  animism."  Mr. 
Howells  believes  that  it  is  our  pedant  pride  which 
perpetuates  the  beast  man  in  our  classics,  and  it  is 
true  that  some  of  our  literature  has  lived  in  spite  of 
that  characteristic,  and  not  because  of  it.  But  who 
is  to  point  this  beast  man  out  for  us,  who  is  to  judge 
whether  this  or  that  corrupts,  who  to  eliminate  and 
who  to  recreate  ?  The  classics  would  have  to  be 
rewritten  whenever  there  was  a  shift  in  moral  view- 
point. 

A  mushroom  growth  of  story-writers,  those  who 
"  tame  "  our  fairy  tales,  who  dilute  fancy  with  senti- 
mentalism,  and  who  retell  badly  what  has  been  told 
surpassing  well,  threatens  to  choke  the  flower.  It 
is  not  the  beast  man  in  classic  literature  we  have  to 
fear  so  much  as  the  small  man  of  letters,  enthused  by 
the  educational  idea,  who  rewrites  to  order,  and  does 


*  The  reader  is  referred  to  "  The  Moral  Instruction  of  Chil- 
dren," by  Felix  Adler,  New  York:  Appleton,  189^.  Besides  con- 
sideiing  the  rise  to  Ix'  made  of  fairy  tales,  fal)les,  and  Bible  stories, 
the  author  discusses  fully  the  elements  in  the  Odyssey  and  the 
Iliad  -which  are  valuable  adjuncts  in  moral  training. 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     139 

not  put  into  his  text  any  of  the  invigorating  spirit 
which  marks  all  truly  great  literature.  We  have 
always  to  return  to  the  ultimate  goal,  to  the  final 
court  of  appeal.  If  there  is  too  much  brutal  strength 
in  a  story  intended  for  children,  it  had  best  be  read 
or  told  to  them,  rather  than  place  in  their  hands  what 
is  not  literature  but  the  mere  husk. 

Such  a  letter  as  Lamb  wrote  to  Godwin  leads  us 
to  feel  that  at  times  misgivings  seized  him  as  to  his 
own  mutilation  of  Homer  and  of  his  much-beloved 
Chapman.  But  such  hesitancy  is  the  exception  and 
not  the  rule  to-day. 

As  poets  for  children  the  Lambs  strike  their  most 
artificial  note;  the  verses  are  forced  and  written 
according  to  prescribed  formulae.  There  is  a  mechan- 
ical effort  in  them  to  appear  youthful,  as  though  before 
setting  to  the  task — for  so  the  two  called  it — a  memo- 
randum of  childish  deeds  and  thoughts  and  expres- 
sions had  been  drawn  up,  from  which  each  was  to 
extract  inspiration.  But  inspiration  is  sorely  lacking ; 
to  most  of  the  poems  you  can  apply  the  stigma  of 
"old  maids"  children;  there  is  little  that  is  naturally 
playful  or  spontaneously  appealing  in  sentiment.  Such 
lines  as  "Crumbs  to  the  Birds"  are  unaffected  and 
simple,  and  the  paraphrase  "  On  the  Lord's  Prayer  " 
aptly  interpretative.  But  on  the  whole,  the  verses 
are  stilted ;  the  feeling  in  them  comes  not  from  the 
authors  so  much  as  it  indicates  how  carefully  it  was 
thought  out  by  them.     We  find  Lamb  making  ex- 


140   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

cuses  to  Coleridge  in  June,  1809 :  "  Our  little  poems 
are  .  .  .  humble,  but  they  have  no  name.  You 
must  read  them,  remembering  they  were  task- work; 
and  perhaps  you  will  admire  the  number  of  subjects, 
all  of  children,  picked  out  by  an  old  bachelor  and 
an  old  maid.  Many  parents  would  not  have  found 
so  many." 

It  is  this  utmost  sincerity  and  such  a  naive  con- 
fession which  make  Charles  Lamb  one  of  the  most 
lovable  figures  in  English  literature. 

Bibliographical  Note 

Lucas,  E.  V. — Old-Fashioned  Tales.  Selected  by.  London, 
Wells,  Gardner,  Darton  &  Co. ;  New  York,   Stokes. 

LtrCAS,  E.  V. — Forgotten  Tales  of  Long  Ago.  Selected  by. 
London,  Wells,  Gardner,  Darton  &  Co.;  New  York, 
Stokes,  1906. 

MoRLET,  John — Jean  Jacques,  Rousseau.     Macmillan. 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques — Emile;  or,  Treatise  on  Educa- 
tion. Abridged  and  Translated  by  W.  H.  Payne.  (In- 
ternational Educational  Series.)  New  York,  Appleton, 
1893. 


De  Genlis,  Comtesse,  As  an  Educator,  Nation,  73:  183 
(Sept.  5,  '01). 

De  Genlis,  Countess,  Memoirs  of  the.  Illustrative  of 
the  History  of  the  18th  and  19th  Century.  Written  by 
herself.  (2  vols.)  [Enghsh  translation.]  New  York, 
Wilder  &  Campbell,  1825. 

De  Genlis,  Comtesse — Theatre  d'fiducation.  (5  vols.) 
Paris,    1825. 

DeGenlis,  Comtesse — Adelaide  and  Theodore.  Letters  on 
Education, — containing  all  the  principles  relative  to  three 
different  plans  of  education;  to  that  of  princes,  and  to 
those  of  young  persons  of  both  sexes.  Translated  from 
the  French.    (3  vols.)     London,  178S. 


THE   OLD-FASHIONED   LIBRARY     141 

Berqxtin,    Arnaud — The  Children's  Friend,  Being  a  Selec- 
tion from  the  Works  of.     Montrose,  1798. 
Berquin,  Arnaud — L'Ami  des  Enfants.     Paris,  1792. 


Edgeworth,  Maria — The  Parent's  Assistant;  or,  Stories 
for  Children.     (3  vols.) 

Edgeworth,  Maria,  and  Richard  Lovell  — Practical  Edu- 
cation.    (1st  American  ed.,  2  vols.)  New  York,  1801. 

Edgeworth,  Richard  Lovell,  Memoirs  of.  Begun  by 
himself  and  concluded  by  his  daughter,  Maria  Edgeworth. 
(2  vols.)     London,  Hunter,  1820. 

Hare,  Augustus  J.  C. — Life  and  Letters  of  Maria  Edgeworth. 
(2  vols.)  London,  Arnold,  1894. 

Edgeworth,  Maria — Tales  from.  With  an  Introduction  by 
Austin  Dobson.     New  York,  Stokes,  $1.50. 

Pancoast,  H.  S. — Forgotten  Patriot.  Atlantic,  91:  758 
(June,  '03). 

Ray,  A.  C. — Philosopher's  Wooing.  Book-buyer,  24:  287 
(May,  '02). 

Fyvie,  John — Literary  Eccentricities.  London,  Constable, 
1906.  [Vide  p.  35:  The  author  of  "Sandford  and 
Merton."] 

Day,  Thomas— Life  of.  (In  the  British  Poets,  Vol.  Iviii.) 
[By  R.  A.  Davenport,  Esq.] 

Day,  Thomas — Sandford  and  Merton.  London,  George 
Routledge  &  Sons,  3s.  6d. 


Barbauld,  Anna  Letitia — A  Legacy  for  Young  Ladies.  .  .  . 
By  the  late  Mrs.  B.  London,  1826.  [Morality  leaps 
from  every  page,  but  the  book  is  agreeably  written.] 

Barbauld  and  Aikin — Evenings  at  Home.  London,  Rout- 
ledge,  2s.  6d. 

Murch,  Jerom — Mrs.  Barbauld  and  Her  Contemporaries: 
Sketches  of  Some  Eminent  Literary  and  Scientific  Eng- 
lish Women.  London,  Longmans,  1877.  [Vide  also 
^lemoir  and  Letters,  ed.  Grace  A.  EUis;  also  Memoir 
by  Anna  Letitia  LeBreton.] 

Barbauld,  Mrs. — Hymns  in  Prose.     London,  Routledge,  2s. 

Raikes,  Robert — The  Man  and  His  Work.  Biographical 
Notes  Collected  by  Josiah  Harris.     Unpublished  Letters 


142   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

by  Robert  Raikes.  Letters  from  the  Raikes  family. 
Opinions  on  Influence  of  Sunday  Schools.  (Specially 
Contributed.)  Ed.  J.  Henry  Harris.  Introduction  by 
Dean  Farrar,  D.D.  Bristol,  London.  [lUustrated; 
frontispiece  of  Raikes.] 

Raikes,  Robert — Memoir  of  the  Founder  of  Sunday  Schools. 
[Pamphlet.]     G.  Webster.     Nottingham,  1873. 

Trimmer,  Mrs. — Some  Account  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of, 
with  original  letters,  and  meditations  and  prayers,  selected 
from  her  Journal.     London,  1825. 

Trimmer,  Mrs.  Sarah — The  History  of  the  Robins.  (Ed. 
Edward  Everett  Hale.)  Heath,  1903.  [In  its  day,  this 
book  was  illustrated  by  many  well-known  artists.] 

More,  Hannah,  Life  of.  [Famous  Women  Series.]  Char- 
lotte M.  Yonge.     Boston,   Roberts,  1890. 

More,  Hannah,  Life  of,  with  Noticas  of  her  Sisters.  Henry 
Thompson,  M.A.  (2  vols.)  Philadelphia,  Carey  and 
Hart,  1838. 

More,  Hannah,  The  Works  of.  (1st  Complete  American 
ed.)  Harper,  1852.  [Vide  also  Memoirs  by  W.  Roberts 
and  Mrs.  H.  C.  Knight;  Mrs.  Elwood's  ]Memoirs  of  Lit- 
erary Ladies;  Monthly  Review,  Feb.,  1809;  April,  1813, 
Feb.,  1820.  Vide  London:  Nurimo,  for  publication  of 
many  of  MissMore's,  Mrs.  Sherwood's  and  Jane  Taylor's 
stories.  ] 


Blake,  William,  The  Lyric  Poems  of.  Ed.  John  Samp- 
son.    Oxford,  Clarendon  Press,  1905. 

Blake,  William,  The  Works  of.  Ed.  E.  J.  Ellis  and  William 
Butler  Yeats.    (3  vols.)     London,    1893. 

Lamb,  Charles  and  Mary — Works.  Ed.  E.  V.  Lucas. 
(Putnam.)     Works.     Ed.  Canon  Ainger.     (Macmillan.) 

Taylor,  Ann  and  Jane — The  "Original  Poems"  and  Others. 
Ed.  E.  V.  Lucas.     New  York,  Stokes,  S1.50. 

Taylor,  Jane  and  Ann — Greedy  Dick,  and  Other  Stories  in 
Verse.     Stokes,  $0.50. 

Watts,  Dr.  Isaac — London,  Houlston.  The  same  pub- 
lishing house  prints  volumes  by  Mrs.  Sherwood,  Mrs. 
Cameron,  Miss  Edgeworth,  H.  ^iartincau,  the  Taylors, 
etc. 

Watts,  Dr.  Isaac — Divine  and  Moral  Songs.  London, 
Elkin  Mathews,  Is.  6d.  net. 


IV.  CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN 

Ce  que  je  vois  alors  dans  ce  jardin,  c'est  tin  petit  bon- 
homme  qui,  les  mains  dans  les  poches  et  sa  gibeciere  an  dos, 
s'en  va  an  college  en  sautillant  comme  un  moineau.  Ma 
pensee  seide  le  voit;  car  ce  petit  bonhomme  est  une  ombre; 
c'est  I'ombre  du  moi  que  fetais  it  y  a  vingt-cinq  ans.  Vrai- 
ment,  it  m'interesse,  ce  petit:  quand  il  existait,  je  ne  me  sou- 
dais  guere  de  lui ;  mais,  maintenant  quit  n'est  plus,  je 
Vaime  bien.  II  valait  mieux,en  somme,  que  les  autres  moi 
que  j'ai  eus  apres  avoir  perdu  celui-ld.  II  etait  bien  etourdi ; 
mais  il  n'etait  pas  mediant  et  je  dois  lui;  rendre  cette  justice 
qu'il  ne  ma  pas  laiss'e  un  seul  mauvais  souvenir;  c'est  un 
innocent  que  j'ai  perdu:  il  est  bien  naturel  que  je  le  regrette; 
il  est  bien  naturel  que  je  le  vote  en  pensie  et  que  mon  esprit 
s'amuse  a  ranimer  soti  souvenir.  .  .  .  Tout  ce  quil  voyait 
alors,  je  le  vois  aujourd'hui.  C'est  le  meme  del  et  la  meme 
terre;  les  choses  ont  leurdme  d'autrefois,  Icur  dmequi  m'egaye 
et  m'attriste,  et  me  troxdile;  lui  seul  n'est  plus. — Anatole 
France,  in  "  Le  Livre  de  mon  Ami." 

I  prefer  the  little  girls  and  boys  .  .  .  that  come  as  you  call 
them,  fair  or  dark,  in  green  ribbons  or  blue.  I  like  making 
cowslip  fields  grow  and  apple-trees  bloom  at  a  moment's 
notice.  That  is  what  it  is,  you  see,  to  have  gone  through 
life  with  an  enchanted  land  ever  beside  you.  .  .  .  " — Kate 
Greenaway  to  Rxtskiri. 

I.  The  English  Side. 

Wf  Hx\TE VE R  change  in  children's  Hterature  was 

'  '       now  to  take  place  was  due  entirely  to  the 

increasing  importance  of  elementary  education,     A 

long  while  was  to  elapse  before  the  author  was  wholly 

143 


144   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

freed  from  the  idea  that  situations  could  be  dealt 
with,  apart  from  any  overbearing  morale,  and  even 
then  he  found  himself  constrained  to  meet  the 
problem  of  giving  information — of  teaching  instead 
of  preaching. 

The  interest  in  external  nature,  the  desire  to  ex- 
plain phenomena  according  to  the  dictates  of  belief, 
infused  a  new  element  into  authorship  for  young 
people.  But  those  writers  brought  to  meet  this 
latent  stirring  of  the  scientific  spirit  all  the  harness 
of  the  old  regime.  First  they  thought  that  they 
could  explain  the  evident  by  parables,  but  they  found 
that  fact  was  too  particular  for  generalisations,  and 
the  child  mind  too  immature  for  such  symbol.  Then 
they  attempted  to  define  natural  objects  from  a 
childish  plane,  making  silly  statements  take  the 
place  of  truth.  They  soon  became  aware  that  their 
simple  style  had  to  deal  with  a  set  of  details  that 
could  not  be  sentimentalised. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  a  new  impulse  was 
started;  the  national  spirit  began  to  move  toward 
a  more  democratic  goal;  the  rank  and  file  began  to 
look  beyond  the  narrow  hill  and  dale ;  women  sought 
wider  spheres;  the  poor  demanded  constitutional 
rights;  energy  began  to  stir  from  underneath.  The 
word  modern  was  in  every  one's  mind.  The  old  order 
changeth,  giving  place  to  new.  The  child's  intellect 
must  be  furnished  with  food  for  its  growth;  Rous- 
seau's doctrine  of  "  back  to  nature  "  was  found  not 


CONCERNING   NOW  AND  THEN     145 

to  have  worked ;  It  was  realised  that  special  training 
must  begin  early  for  all  the  walks  of  life.  Carlyle  was 
pleading  for  a  public  library,  education  was  widening 
its  sphere. 

In  the  preceding  pages,  we  have  tried  to  establish  a 
continuous  line  of  development  in  cliildren's  books 
through  several  centuries ;  upon  such  a  foundation  the 
English  story  and  the  American  story  of  to-day  are 
based.  The  table  of  English  writers  on  page  147 
contains  names  of  minor  importance,  but  still  form- 
ing a  part  of  the  past  history — foreshadowers  of  the 
new  era.  For  therein  you  will  discover  that  juvenile 
literature  first  begins  to  show  signs  of  differing  from 
adult  literature  only  in  its  power;  that  where 
Macaulay  tells  the  story  of  England  in  terms  of 
maturity,  ]Miss  Strickland,  Lady  Callcott,  Miss 
Tytler,  and  Miss  Yonge  adopt  a  descending  scale. 
Where  children  were  wont  to  act  in  accord  with  the 
catechism,  they  are  now  made  to  feel  an  interest  in 
their  surroundings.  ]Mrs.  Marcet  writes  for  them 
"talks"  on  chemistry  and  political  economy,  Mrs. 
Wakefield  on  botany  and  insects.  The  extension 
of  schools  meant  that  literature  must  be  supplied 
those  schools;  writers  were  encouraged  in  the  same 
way  that  ]Miss  ]\Iore  was  prompted  to  produce  her 
"  Repository  Tracts."  Grammars  and  histories  be- 
gan to  flood  the  market,  and  in  the  wake  of  Scott's 
novels,  taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  books 
were  being  written  for  the  purpose  of  information,  tlie 


146   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

child's  historical  story  was  a  natural  consequence. 
Thus  we  discover  the  connection  between  "  Waverley" 
and  Henty.  The  death-blow  to  fairy  tales  in  Eng- 
land, brought  about  by  the  didactic  writers,  resulted 
in  a  deplorable  lack  of  imaginative  literature  for 
children,  until  a  German  influence,  around  1840- 
1850,  began  to  take  effect,  and  the  Grimms'  House- 
hold Tales  afforded  a  new  impulse.*  INIrs.  Gatty, 
author  of  the  famous  "Parables  of  Nature,"  deigned 
to  rejoice  over  the  classic  nonsense  of  Lewis  Carroll. 
The  line  of  descent  can  be  drawn  from  Perrault  to 
Grimm,  from  Grimm  to  Andrew  Lang's  rainbow 
series  of  folk-lore. 

The  table  is  intended  to  do  no  more  than  indicate 
the  gradual  manner  in  which  this  break  took  effect. 
The  student  who  would  treat  the  evolution  fully  will 
find  it  necessary  to  place  side  by  side  with  his  dis- 
cussion of  individual  books  for  young  people,  a  full 
explanation  of  those  social  changes  in  English  history 
which  are  the  chief  causes  of  the  changes  in  English 
literature.  Children's  books  are  subject  to  just 
those  modifications  which  take  place  in  the  beliefs, 
the  knowledge,  and  the  aspirations  of  the  adult  per- 
son. The  difference  between  the  two  is  one  of  in- 
tensity and  not  of  Idnd.  The  student  will  discover, 
after  a  study  of  the  development  of  the  common  school, 
how  and  why  the  educational  impulse  dominated 

*  In  education,  the  influence  of  Froebel,  in  direct  descent  from 
Rousseau,  is  to  \ie  considered. 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    147 

over  all  elements  of  pure  imagination ;  how  the  retell- 
ing craze,  given  a  large  literary  sanction  by  such  a 
writer  as  Lamb,  and  so  excellently  upheld  by  Charles 
Kingsley,  lost  caste  when  brought  within  compass 
of  the  text-book.  He  will  finally  see  how  this  educa- 
tional pest  has  overrun  America  to  a  far  greater 
extent  than  England,  to  the  detriment  of  much 
that  is  worthy  and  of  much  which  should  by  rights 
be  made  to  constitute  a  children's  reading  heritage. 

ENGLISH  TABLE 

Mrs.  Priscilla  Wakefield.  1751-1832.  Member  of  Soci- 
ety of  Friends;  philanthropic  work  among  the  poor. 
Author:  Juvenile  Anecdotes;  Juvenile  Travellers; 
Conversations;  Introduction  to  Botany;  Introduction 
to  Insects;  Present  Condition  of  Female  Sex,  with  Sug- 
gestions for  Its  Improvement;  Life  of  William  Penn. 
Reference:  D.  N.  B.* 

Frances  Burney  (Madame  D'Arblay).  1752-1840.  Refer- 
ence: D.  N.  B. 

William  Fordyce  Mavor.  1758-1837.  Ed.  1799,  juvenile 
periodical  for  Walker,  Newbery.     Reference:  D.  N.  B. 

Joanna  Baillie.  1762-1851.  Work  among  the  poor  made 
her  known  as  Lady  Bountiful.     Reference:   D.  N.  B. 

Jeremiah  Joyce.  1763-1816.  Author:  Lectures  on  the 
Microscope. 

Mrs.  Jane  IVL'lrcet.  1769-1858.  Macaulay  wrote:  "Every 
girl  who  has  read  Mrs.  Marcet's  little  dialogues  on  polit- 
ical economy  could  teach  Montague  or  Walpole  many 
fine  lessons  in  finance."  Author:  Scientific  text-books; 
Conversations  on  Chemistry  intended  for  the  Female 
Sex;  Conversations  on  Political  Economy,  imitated  by 
Harriet  Martineau  in  her  Illustrations  of  Political  Econ- 
omy.    Reference:  D.  N.  B. 

Mrs.  Barbara  Hofland.  1770-1844.  Imitated  the  Edge- 
worth  style.  Author:  Emily;  The  Son  of  a  Genius; 
Tales  of  a  Manor;  Young  Crusoe.     Reference:  D.  N.  B. 

*D.  N.  B. — Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 


148  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Mrs,  Mart  Martha  Sherwood.  1775-1851.  Stories  and 
tracts  evangelical  in  tone.  With  her  sister,  Mrs.  Cam- 
eron, invented  a  type  of  story  for  rich  and  for  poor. 
Author:  The  Fairchild  Family  (intended  for  the  middle 
classes);  Little  Henry  and  His  Bearer.  Reference: 
New  Review  (May  18,  1843) ;  Life  of  Mrs.  Sherwood  by 
her  daughter;  D.  N.  B.  An  edition  of  The  Fairchild 
Family,  New  York,  Stokes,  S1.50. 

Jane  Porter.     1776-1850.     Reference:   D.  N.  B. 

Maria  Hack.  1778-1844.  Quaker  parentage.  A  believer 
in  the  "walk"  species  of  literature.  Author:  Winter 
Evenings,  or  Tales  of  Travellers ;  First  Lessons  in  English 
Grammar;  Harry  Beaufoy,  or  the  Pupil  of  Nature. 
Reference:  D.  N.  B. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Penrose.  1780-1837.  Pseud.  Mrs.  Markham. 
Daughter  of  a  rector.  One  critic  wrote:  "Mrs.  Penrose 
adapted  her  history  to  what  she  considered  the  needs 
of  the  young,  and  omitted  scenes  of  cruelty  and  fraud, 
as  hurtful  to  children,  and  party  politics  after  the  Revolu- 
tion as  too  complicated  for  them  to  learn."  Author: 
Began  school  histories  in  1823;  these  were  brought  up  to 
date  afterward  by  Mary  Howitt.  Moral  Tales  and  Ser- 
mons for  Children.     Reference:   D.  N.  B. 

John  Wilson  Croker.  1780-1857.  One  of  the  founders 
of  the  Qiuirterly  Review;  reviewed  abusively  Keats's 
Endymion.  Author:  Stories  from  the  History  of  Eng- 
land, 1817,  which  supplied  Scott  with  the  idea  for  his 
Tales  of  a  Grandfather ;  Irish  Tales.  Reference :  Jenning's 
Diaries  and  Correspondence  of  Croker  (London,  1884); 
Internat.  Encyclo. 

L.^DY  Maria  Callcott.  1785-1842.  Author:  Little  Arthur's 
History  of  England.     Reference:   D.  N.  B. 

Mary  Russell  Mitford.  1787-1855,  Careful  detail  of  de- 
scription, akin  to  Dutch  style  of  painting.  Author: 
Tragetiies;  Village  Stories;  Juvenile  Spectator.  She  was 
among  the  first  women  to  adopt  writing  as  a  pro- 
fession. Miss  Yonge  speaks  of  her  "  writing  so  delic- 
iouslyof  children,"  but  she  "could  not  write  for  them." 
Reference:  D.  N.  B. ;   Recollections;    Letters. 

Agnes  Strickland.  1796-1874.  "With  the  exception  of 
Jane  Porter,  whom  she  visited  at  Bristol,  and  with  whom 
she  carried  on  a  frequent  correspondence,  and  a  casual 
meeting  with  Macaulay,  whom  she  found  congenial,  she 
came  little  in  contact  with  the  authors  of  the  day." 
Author:    Lives  of  tlie  Queens  of  England;    Two  Rival 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    149 

Cnisoes.  [Note  the  hybrid  type  of  story  that  sprung  up 
around  the  real  Robinson  Crusoe.]  Edited  Fisher's 
Juvenile  Scrap  Book,  1837-1839.     Reference:   D.  N.  B. 

Mrs.  IVIay  Sewell.  1797-1884.  Left  Society  of  Friends 
for  the  Church  of  England.  Wrote  homely  ballads. 
Vide  daughter,  Anna  Sewell.  Author:  Her  ballad. 
Mother's  Last  Words,  circulated  about  1,088,000  copies 
when  it  first  appeared.     Reference:  Mod.  Biog. 

Mary  Howitt.  1799-1888.  Authorship  linked  with  that 
of  her  husband.  In  1837  began  writing  children's 
stories  and  poems.  Her  daughter,  Anna  Mary,  also 
was  a  writer  of  children's  books.  Author:  Translator 
of  Fredrika  Bremer's  novels;  editor,  Fisher's  Drawing- 
room  Scrap  Book.  Reference:  Reminiscences  of  My 
Later  Life  {Good  Words,  1886) ;  D.  N.  B. 

Catherine  Sinclair.  1800-1864.  Fourth  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Sinclair.  Her  work  considered  the  beginning  of 
the  modern  spirit.  A  friend  of  Scott.  Author:  Holiday 
House;  Modern  Accomplishment;  Modern  Society; 
Modern  Flirtations.  Reference:  A  Brief  Tribute  to 
C.  S.  (Pamphlet) ;  D.  N.  B. 

G.  P.  R.  James.  1801-1860.  Influenced  by  Scott  and  en- 
couraged by  Irving.  Thackeray  parodied  him  in  Bar- 
baziu-e,  by  G.  P.  R.  Jeames,  Esq.,  in  Novels  by  Eminent 
Hands;  also  in  Book  of  Snobs  (chaps,  ii  and  xvi). 
Author  of  a  long  list  of  novels. 

Harriet  Martineau.     1802-1876.     Reference:  D.  N.  B. 

Mrs.  Margaret  Scott  Gattt.  1809-1873.  She  was  forty-two 
before  she  began  to  publish.  Vide  Ewing.  Author: 
Aunt  Judy  Tales;  Parables  of  Nature;  1866 — Aunt 
Judy  Magazine  (monthly),  continued  after  her  death, 
with  her  daughter  as  editor;  stopped  in  1885.  Reference: 
Life  in  ed.  Parables  (Everyman's  Library) ;  Illustrated 
London  News,  Oct.  18,  1873;  Athenceum,  Oct.  11,  1873, 
p.  464;  D.  N.  B. 

Anna  Sewell.  1820-1878.  Author:  Black  Beauty  (1877). 
Reference:  D.  N.  B. 

Charlotte  M.  Yonge.  1823-.  Author:  Heir  of  Redclyffe; 
The  Kings  of  England;  The  Chaplet  of  Pearls. 

Mrs.  Mary  Louisa  Whateley.  1824-1889.  Went  to  Cairo 
and  lived  from  1861-1889,  where  she  had  a  Moslem 
school.  Wrote  chiefly  about  Egypt.  Fairy  tale  in- 
fluence. Author:  Reverses;  or,  the  Fairfax  Family. 
Reference:  Hays'  Women  of  To-day;  London  Times 
(March  12,  1889). 


150   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Mrs.  Dinah  Maria  Mtjlock  Craik.  1826-1887.  Pseudo- 
fairy  tale  writer.    Author:  Adventures  of  a  Brownie,  etc. 

Juliana  Horatio  Ewing.  1841-1885.  Reference:  J.  H. 
Ewing  and  Her  Books,  by  Horatia  K.  T.  Gatty;  D.  N.  B. 

Ann  Fraser  Tytler.  Daughter  of  Alexander  Fraser  Tytler, 
Lord  Woodhouselel.  Author:  Leila  on  the  Island; 
Leila  in  England;  Leila  at  Home. 


II.  The  American  Side. 

As  for  the  American  phase  of  the  subject,  we  have 
already  indicated  three  stages  by  which  the  Colonial 
or  Revolutionary  reader  was  given  his"  New  England 
Primer,"  his  "  Mother  Goose,"  and  his  Thomas  books 
obtained  directly  from  Newbery  of  England.  The 
whole  intellectual  activity  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
clergy;  even  the  governing  body  pretended  to  be 
God-fearing  men,  and  were  prone  to  listen  to  the 
dictates  of  the  ministry.  The  austere  demands  of  the 
Puritan  Sunday,  more  than  anything  else,  caused 
the  writing  of  religious  books,  and  so  firm  a  hold 
did  the  Sabbath  genre  of  literature  take,  that,  in  1870, 
it  was  still  in  full  sway,  and  even  now  exists  to  a 
limited  extent.  The  history  of  education  in  America 
for  a  long  while  has  to  do  with  denominational 
schools,  and  teaching  was  largely  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  clergy.  So  that  we  shall  find  our  early  writer 
of  "  juveniles  "  either  a  man  of  the  church,  or  his  wife ; 
prompted  solely  by  the  desire  to  supply  that  charac- 
ter of  story  which  would  fitly  harmonise  with  the 
sanctity  of  Sunday,  rather  than  with  the  true  excel- 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND   THEN     151 

lence  of  all  days.  If,  in  the  school,  a  book  was 
needed,  it  was  far  better  to  write  one  than  to  trust  to 
others  for  what  might  turn  out  to  be  heretical.*  The 
Rev.  Jedidiah  Morse  began  his  literary  career  in 
the  capacity  of  teacher;  Noah  Webster's  idea  was  at 
first  to  prepare  a  treatise  on  grammar  which  could  be 
used  in  the  schools.  These  two  were  the  most  sci- 
entific thinkers  of  their  period.  The  list  on  page  158, 
indicating  but  a  few  of  the  forgotten  and  only  faintly 
remembered  authors  of  early  days,  fairly  well  repre- 
sents the  general  trend;  in  the  writing  done,  there 
were  the  same  morals,  the  similar  luckless  children, 
subject  to  the  same  thin  sentiment  of  piety  and  recti- 
tude as  we  discovered  holding  sway  in  England  for 
nearly  two  centuries.  The  name  of  Peter  Parley  is 
no  longer  familiar  to  children,  and  a  crusade  is  fast 
being  formed  against  the  Jacob  Abbott  class  of  book. 
The  type  of  writer  was  the  kind  that  debated  for  or 
against  slavery  in  terms  of  the  Bible.  The  Puritan 
soil  was  rich  for  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Hannah  More 
seed,  and  no  one  assisted  in  sowing  it  to  greater  ex- 


*  The  student  who  desires  to  investigate  the  history  of  American 
school-books  will  find  much  valuable  material  in  the  Watkinson 
Library  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  to  which  institution  Dr.  Henry  Bar- 
nard's entire  collection  of  school-books  was  left.  Vide  Bibliotheca 
Americana,  Catalogue  of  American  Publications,  including  re- 
prints and  original  works,  from  1820  to  1852,  inclusive,  together 
with  a  list  of  periodicals  published  in  the  United  States,  compiled 
and  arranged  Dy  Orville  A.  Roorbach,  N.  Y.,  Oct.,  1852.  Includes 
Supplement  to  1849  cd.,  published  in  1850. 

y  ide  also  Early  English  School-books.  Educational  Library, 
South  Kensington  Museum. 


152   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

tent  than  Samuel  G.  Goodrich  (1793-1860).  He 
may  symboHse  for  us  the  reading  child  in  New  Eng- 
land at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century; 
his  training,  his  daily  pursuits,  as  told  in  his  auto- 
biography, supply  pages  of  invaluable  social  colour.* 
"  It  is  difficult,"  so  he  says,  "...  in  this  era 
of  literary  aflfluence,  almost  amounting  to  surfeit,  to 
conceive  of  the  poverty  of  books  suited  to  children 
in  the  days  of  which  I  write.  Except  the  New 
England  Primer — the  main  contents  of  which  were 
the  Westminster  Catechism — and  some  rhymes, 
embellished  with  hideous  cuts  of  Adam's  Fall, 
in  which  'we  sinned  all';  the  apostle  and  a  cock 
crowing  at  his  side,  to  show  that  'Peter  denies  his 
Lord  and  cries';  Nebuchadnezzar  crawling  about 
like  a  hog,  the  bristles  sticking  out  of  his  back,  and 
the  like — I  remember  none  that  were  in  general 
use  among  my  companions.  When  I  was  about  ten 
years  old,  my  father  brought  from  Hartford  "  Gaffer 
Ginger,"  "Goody  Two  Shoes,"  and  some  of  the  rhymes 
and  jingles  now  collected  under  the  name  of  "  Mother 
Goose,"  with  perhaps  a  few  other  toy  books  of  that 
day.  These  were  a  revelation.  Of  course  I  read 
them,  but  I  must  add,  with  no  relish." 

*  Vide  Recollections  of  a  Life-time;  or,  Men  and  Things  I 
have  Seen:  in  a  series  of  familiar  Letters  to  a  Friend.  Historical, 
Biographical,  Anecdotil,  and  Descriptive.  S.  G.  Goodrich.  (2 
vols.)  New  York,  1857.  [Contains  a  valuable  list  of  the  real 
Parley  books;  also  the  names  of  the  spurious  Parleys.  The 
volumes  describe  many  small  characteristics  of  .Vmerican  life 
during  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century.] 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    153 

The  confession  follows  that  when  he  was  given 
"Red  Riding  Hood,"  he  was  filled  with  contempt; 
and  in  this  spirit  he  condemns  such  nonsense  as 
"hie  diddle  diddle,"  which  is  not  fit  for  Christian 
parents  to  use.  He  found  some  considerable  pleas- 
ure in  "Robinson  Crusoe,"  but  it  was  not  until 
he  met  with  Miss  Hannah  More's  tracts  that  he 
might  be  said  to  have  enjoyed  with  relish  any  book 
at  all. 

Thus  his  reading  tastes  foreshadowed  his  literary 
activity.  When  he  turned  writer,  he  aimed  for  the 
style  which  distinguishes  Mary  Howitt,  Mrs.  Hof- 
land,  and  Miss  Strickland;  he  disclaimed  any  interest 
in  the  nurser}^  book  that  was  unreasonable  and  un- 
truthful, for  so  he  considered  most  of  the  stories  of 
fancy.  In  his  books,  his  desire  was  chiefly  "  to  feed 
the  young  mind  upon  things  wholesome  and  pure, 
instead  of  things  monstrous,  false,  and  pesti- 
lent. ...  In  short,  that  the  element  of  nursery 
books  should  consist  of  beauty  instead  of  deformity, 
goodness  instead  of  wickedness,  decency  instead  of 
vulgarity."  In  this  manner,  the  mould  of  the  Peter 
Parley  tales  was  shaped.  Goodrich  at  first  adopted 
no  philosophy  of  construction,  so  he  says ;  he  aimed  to 
tell  his  story  as  he  would  have  spoken  it  to  a  group 
of  boys.  But  after  a  while,  a  strong  sense  of  the 
child's  gradual  growth  took  hold  of  him;  he  recog- 
nised psychological  stages,  and  he  saw  that,  as  in 
teaching,  his  books   must    consider  that  children's 


154   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

"first  ideas  are  simple  and  single,  and  formed  of 
images  of  things  palpable  to  the  senses." 

While  on  a  visit  to  England  in  1823 — the  memo- 
rable time  he  met  Miss  More — he  turned  his  attention 
to  what  was  being  accomplished  there  in  popular 
education  for  children.  After  investigation,  he  thus 
wrote : 

"  Did  not  children  love  truth  ?  If  so,  was  it  nec- 
essary to  feed  them  on  fiction  ?  Could  not  history, 
natural  history,  geography,  biography  become  the 
elements  of  juvenile  works,  in  place  of  fairies  and 
giants,  and  mere  monsters  of  the  imagination  f 
These  were  the  inquiries  that  from  this  time  filled 
my  mind." 

Under  such  conditions  Peter  Parley  was  born, 
and  reborn,  and  overborn;  battles  were  waged  for  and 
against  him,  just  as  they  have  only  recently  been 
waged  for  and  against  the  Elsie  books.  But  no  sooner 
was  Peter  Parley  identified  with  a  definite  person 
than  Mr.  Goodrich's  trials  began.  He  became  a 
victim  of  the  imperfect  copyright  system;  he  found 
his  tales  being  pirated  in  England.  And  as  fast  as 
he  would  settle  one  difficulty,  another  would  arise ; 
spurious  Parleys  came  to  light,  conflicting  with  his 
sales.  It  was  the  case  of  Goodrich  alias  Kcttcll, 
alias  Mogridge,  alias  Martin,  and  many  more  beside. 
In  fact,  a  writer,  considering  the  life  of  William  ]Mar- 
tin  (1801-1867),  quotes  a  statement  to  the  effect 
tliat     "  Messrs.     Darton,     Martin's    publishers,     in 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    155 

especial  used  to  prefix  the  name  [Peter  Parley]  to 
all  sorts  of  children's  books,  without  reference  to 
their  actual  authorship." 

Isaiah  Thomas  may  be  taken  as  representative  of 
our  Revolutionary  period,  even  as  the  "  New  England 
Primer"  may  typify  the  chief  literary  product  of  our 
Colonial  life.  Peter  Parley  marks  for  us  the  war 
of  1812.  It  was  after  this  that  our  country  began 
to  expand,  that  the  South  and  the  Southwest  un- 
folded their  possibilities,  that  the  East  began  the 
Westward  move  that  led  to  the  craze  of  '49.  The 
Indian,  the  scout,  the  cowboy,  the  Yankee  trader 
have  been  the  original  contributions  of  America  to 
juvenile  literature.  A  close  study  will  indicate  that 
Cooper  was  the  creator  of  this  genre  of  story, — more 
painstaking,  more  effulgent,  more  detailed  than  the 
Indian  story-writer  of  to-day,  but  none  the  less  a 
permanent  model.  So,  too,  he  will  be  found,  in  his 
accounts  of  the  navy,  in  his  records  of  common  sea- 
men, in  his  lives  of  naval  officers,  to  be  no  mean,  no 
inaccurate,  no  dry  historian ;  in  fact.  Cooper,  as  one 
of  our  first  naval  critics,  has  yet  to  be  accorded  his 
proper  estimate. 

American  history,  American  development  being 
of  a  melodramatic  character,  it  is  natural  that  the 
opposite  to  Sunday-school  literature  should  rap- 
idly take  root  as  soon  as  begun.  A  period  of  the 
ten-cent  novel  flourished  about  1860,  when  the 
Beadle  Brothers,  who  were  finallv  to  be  merged  into 


156   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

the  publishing  house  of  George  Munro,  began  the 
publication  of  their  series  of  cheap  volumes — the 
sensationalism  of  Cooper  raised  to  the  nth  power. 
To-day  there  are  men  who  glow  with  remembered 
enthusiasm  over  Colonel  Prentiss  Ingraham  and 
the  detective  stories  of  A.  W.  Aiken — whose  record 
was  often  one  a  week — as  they  do  over  the  name  of 
Hemyng  alias  Jack  Harkaway,  or  Mayne  Reid, 
with  his  traditional  profanity.  Edward  S.  Ellis  (b. 
1840)  was  one  of  the  young  members  of  this  group  of 
writers.  He  became  inoculated,  but  was  forced, 
when  the  milder  process  came  into  vogue,  to  soften 
his  high  lights,  and  to  accord  with  the  times.  What 
such  early  "  wild  cat "  literature  did,  however,  for 
present  upholders  of  the  "series"  books,  was  to 
exemplify  that,  by  a  given  pattern,  a  tale  could  be 
made  to  "  go  "  to  order.  There  was  then,  as  there  is 
now,  a  certain  type  of  book,  neither  moral  nor  im- 
moral, and  not  at  all  educational,  but  only  mo- 
mentarily diverting;  written  without  motive,  without 
definite  object,  but  whose  ground  plan  and  mech- 
anism were  workable. 

The  increase  of  the  public-school  system  was  the 
chief  opponent  of  the  Sunday-school  book,  as  it 
likewise,  by  its  educational  emphasis,  fought  against 
the  dime-novel  vogue.  And  with  the  inception  of 
the  public  school  on  its  present  large  scale  we  reach 
the  immediate  stage,  the  era  of  over-productivity, 
with    its  enormous  average   taste,   with  its   public 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    157 

regard  for  readers  in  the  libraries,  for  scholars  in 
the  class-rooms,  for  the  poor  in  settlements,  and  for 
the  emigrant  on  the  high  seas. 

After  an  experience  of  five  years  In  reviewing 
juvenile  books  of  the  past  and  in  estimating  the 
varied  stories  of  the  present,  I  do  not  think  it  sweep- 
ing to  assert  that  while  education  has  snatched  the 
child's  book  from  the  moralist  and  taken  away  from 
writing  a  false  standard  of  right  doing,  it  has  not,  as 
yet,  added  any  worthy  attribute  of  itself.  It  has  not 
taught  the  child  to  judge  good  literature  from  the 
bad;  it  has  supplied,  in  a  prescribed  course,  certain 
isolated  books  or  stereotyped  poems,  with  which 
the  child  is  wearied  in  the  class-room,  and  from 
which,  once  outside,  the  child  turns  with  natural 
dread.  I  am  judging  solely  from  the  standpoint  of 
juvenile  taste.  And  so,  with  the  entrance  of  a  new 
consideration — the  children's  reading-rooms — it  may 
well  be  queried  at  the  outset:  What  will  this  in- 
stitution add  to  the  creative  force  ?  How  far  will 
it  seek  to  improve  conditions  ?  Will  there  be  an  in- 
creased demand  for  the  good  and  for  the  best  books  ? 
Will  there  be  a  more  careful  art  manifested  in  the 
writing  of  stories.^  Will  the  gaps  in  the  field  be 
filled  up  ?  For  an  examination  of  the  past  and  of  the 
present  tells  me  that  children's  literature,  generally 
speaking,  has  yet  to  be  conquered. 

With  these  remarks  in  view,  the  table  that  follows 
may,  on  examination,  bear  some  significance. 


158  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 


AMERICAN  TABLE 

Noah  Webster,  Ct,  1758-1843.  Cf.  Mavor  in  England. 
Author:  New  England  Spelling  Book;  American  Diction- 
ary. Reference:  Memoir  by  Goodrich  (in  Dictionary); 
Life  by  H.E.  Scudder;  Appleton.* 

Jedidiah  Morse.  Ct.  1761-1826.  Congregational  minister ; 
wrote  first  school  text- books  of  any  importance  in  Amer- 
ica. His  son  was  S.  F.  B.  Morse.  Author:  Geography 
Made  Easy,  etc.  He  is  called  the  "  Father  of  American 
Geography."     Reference:  Life  by  Sprague;  Appleton. 

Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  Ct.  1787-1851.  Minister. 
Educator  of  deaf  mutes;  in  this  work  assisted  by  wife, 
Sophia  Fowler  (1798-1877),  and  two  sons.  Author:  The 
Child's  Book  of  the  Soul;  The  Youth's  Book  of  Natural 
Theology;  Bible  Stories  for  the  Young.  Reference: 
Life  by  Humphrey;  Tribute  to  T.  H.  G.  by  Henry 
Barnard  (Hartford,  (3onn.,  1852);  Appleton. 

Eliza  Leslie.  Pa.  1787-1857.  Wrote  cook  books, 
girls'  books,  and  juvenile  tales  for  The  Pearl  and  The 
Violet,  which  she  edited  annually.  She  also  edited 
The  Gift.  One  of  her  brothers,  a  well-known  artist. 
Author:  The  Young  Americans;  Stories  for  Adelaide; 
Stories  for  Helen;  The  Behaviour  Book.  The  Wonder- 
ful Traveller  consisted  of  altered  versions  of  tales  from 
Munchausen,  Gulliver,  etc.     Reference:   Appleton. 

Mrs.  Sarah  Josepha  (Buell)  Hale.  N.  H.  1788-1879. 
It  was  through  her  efforts  that  Thanksgiving  became  an 
American  national  observance.  Her  son,  Horatio,  was 
an  author.  Author:  The  famous  "Mary  had  a  little 
lamb."  Edited  Lady's  Book  for  forty  years  from  1837. 
Reference:  Appleton. 

Catherine  Maria  Sedgwick.  Mass.  1789-1867.  Author: 
The  Boy  of  Mount  Rhigi,  a  tale  of  inspired  goodness; 
Beatitudes  and  Pleasant  Sundays;  The  Poor  Rich  Man 
and  the  Rich  Poor  Man;  A  Love  Token  for  Children; 
Morality  of  Manners;  Lessons  without  Books.  Refer- 
ence: Hart's  Female  Prose  Writers  of  America;  Life 
and  Letters,  ed.  Mary  E.  Dewey;  Appleton. 

Mrs.  Susan  (Ridley)  Sedgwick.  Mass.  1789-1867.  Au- 
thor :  Walter  Thornley ;  Morals  of  Pleasure ;  The 
Young  Emigrants.     Reference:  Appleton. 

*  Cyclopaedia. 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    159 

Mrs.  Lydia  Howard  (Huntley)  Sigotjrney.  Ct.  1791-1865. 
Author:  Letters  to  Young  Ladies;  Poetry  for  Children; 
Tales  and  Essays  for  Children.  Reference:  Griswold's 
Female  Poets;  Hart's  Female  Prose  Writers;  Life  and 
Letters;  Parton's  Eminent  Women;  Appleton. 

Mrs.  Caroline  (Howard)  Oilman.  Mass.  1794-1888. 
Took  great  pride  in  her  children's  books.  Began  writing 
in  Southern  Rosebud  (Charleston),  afterward  called 
Southern  Rose  (1832-1839).  This  magazine  has  been 
credited  as  the  first  juvenile  weekly  in  the  United  States. 
Her  daughter,  Caroline  H.  (b.  S.  C.  1823),  also  wrote 
for  the  young.  Author:  Oracles  for  Youth;  Mrs.  Oil- 
man's Gift  Book.  Reference:  Autobiographical  sketch  in 
Hart's  Female  Prose  Writers ;  Recollections ;  Appleton. 

Mrs.  Louisa  C.  (HuGGiNs)  TuTHiLL.  Ct.  1798-1897.  Wrote 
moral  tales ;  with  others  prepared  Juvenile  Library  for 
Boys  and  Oirls;  her  daughter,  Cornelia  (T.)  Pierson 
(1820-1870),  wrote  Our  Little  Comfort;  When  Are  We 
Happiest?  Author:  I  will  be  a  Gentleman;  I  will  be  a 
Lady;  I  will  be  a  Sailor;  Onward,  Right  Onward. 
Edited  the  Young  Ladies  Reader  (New  Haven,  1840). 
Reference:  Hart;  Appleton. 

John  Todd.  Vt.  1800-1873.  Invented  Index  Rerum. 
Author:  Religious  works,  mainly  for  young  people; 
also  educational  works.  Reference:  Life;  Harper's 
Magazine,  Feb.,  1876. 

Lydia  Maria  Child.  Mass.  1802-1880.  Foremost'  in  the 
ranks  of  anti-slavery;  influenced  by  Garrison.  In  1826, 
founded  the  Juvenile  Miscellany,  forerunner  of  Harper's 
Young  People.  Author:  Flowers  for  Children  (graded). 
Reference:   Hart;   Nat.  Cyclo.  Am.  Biog. 

Maria  J.  McIntosh.  Ga.  1803-1878.  Quiet  and  domestic 
tone  to  her  books.  Author:  Series  known  as  the  Aunt 
Kitty  Tales,  the  first  one  being  Blind  Ahce,  published 
in  1841.     Reference:  Hart. 

Dr.  Harvey  Newcomb.  Mass.  1803-1866.  Congrega- 
tional clergyman.  Wrote  moral  and  religious  books 
for  young.  Author:  How  to  be  a  Man;  How  to  be  a 
Lady;  Young  Ladies'  Guide.     Reference:  Appleton. 

Rev.  Jacob  Abbott.  Me.  1803-1879.  Divinity  school; 
Professor  at  Amherst;  Congregationalist.  Travelled 
extensively.  Author:  Rollo  books  (28  vols.);  Lucy 
books  (0  vols.) ;  Jonas  books  (6  vols.)  ;  Franconia  books 
(10  vols.);  histories  with  brother  (vide  p.  160).  Refer- 
ence: A  Neglected  N.  E.  Author  {N.  E.  Mag.,  n.  s.  30 :  471) ; 


160   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

Writings  (Lt<.  orui  Theol.  R.,Z:  83);  {Chr.  Exam.,  18: 
133;  21 -.306);  Appleton. 

Rxv.  Abijah  Richardson  Baker.  Mass.  1805-1876.  Con- 
gregationalist.  Graduate  of  Amherst ;  a  teacher.  With 
his  wife,  Mrs.  H.  N.  W.  Baker,  edited  The  Mother's 
Assistant  and  The  Happy  Home.  Author:  School 
History  of  the  U.  S.;  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism — 
Graduated  Question  Book.     Reference:  Appleton. 

J.  S.  C.  Abbott.  Me.  1805-1877.  Brother  of  Jacob  Abbott. 
Congregational  minister.  Author:  TheMother  at  Home; 
histories  with  brother.  Reference:  Cong.  Q.,  20:1; 
Appleton. 

Sarah  Towne  (Smith)  Martyn.  1805-1879.  Wife  of  a 
minister.  Wrote  Sunday-school  books  and  semi-his- 
torical stories.  Published  through  American  Tract 
Society.  Established  Ladies'  Wreath,  and  edited  it, 
1846-1851.  Author:  Huguenots  of  France;  Lady 
Alice  Lisle.     Reference:  Appleton. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Oakes  (Prince)  Smith.  Me.  1806- 
1893.  One  of  the  first  women  lecturers  in  America. 
Moved  later  to  South  Carolina.  By  her  book,  The  News- 
boy, public  attention  was  drawn  to  that  class  of  child. 
Supervised,  circa  1840,  annual  issuance  of  the  Mayflower 
(Boston).  Author:  The  Sinless  Child;  Stories  for 
Children;  Hints  on  Dress  and  Beauty.  Reference: 
Hart;  Nat.  Cyclo.  Am.  Biog. 

Mary  Stanley  Bunce  (Palmer)  (Dana)  Shindler.  S.  C. 
1810-1883.  Wife  of  a  clergyman,  Episcopal.  Author: 
Charles  Morton;  or,  The  Yoimg  Patriot;  The  Young 
Sailor.     Reference:   Appleton. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe.  Ct.  1811-1896.  Author:  Dred; 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  Reference:  Life  work  of, — 
McCray;  E.  F.  Parker  in  Parton's  Eminent  Women; 
Life  compiled  from  letters  and  journals  by  C.  E.  Stowe; 
Life  and  Letters,  ed.  Annie  Fields. 

Elijah  Kellogg.  Me.  18 13-.  Congregational  minister. 
Famed  for  "The  Address  of  Spartacus  to  the  Gladiators." 
Author:  Elm  Island  series;  Forest  Glen  series;  Good 
Old  Times  series;  Pleasant  Cove  series.  Reference: 
Bibliog.  Me.;  Appleton. 

Mary  Elizabeth  Lke.  S.  C.  1813-1849.  Not  a  distinctive 
juvenile  writer,  but  contributed  many  juvenile  tales  to 
The  Rosebud.   {Vide  Oilman.)     Reference:  Hart. 

Rev.  Zachariah  Atwell  Mudge.  Mass.  1813-1888. 
Methodist-Episcopal     minister-,     teacher.     Fiction     for 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    161 

Sunday-schools.  Author:  Arctic  Heroes;  Fur  Clad 
Adventurers.     Reference:  Appleton. 

Mrs.  Harriet  V.  Cheney.  Mass.  Circa  1815.  Daughter 
of  Hannah  Foster,  an  early  American  novelist.  Her 
sister,  Mrs.  Cushing,  wrote  Esther,  a  dramatic  poem, 
and  "works"  for  the  young.  Author:  A  Peep  at  the 
Pilgrims;  The  Sunday-school;  or,  Village  Sketches. 
Reference:  Appleton. 

Mrs.  Harriette  Newell  (Woods)  Baker.  Mass.  1815- 
1893.  Pseud.  Madeline  Leslie.  Wife  of  Rev.  A.  R.  B. 
Author:  About  two  hundred  moral  tales,  among  them 
Tim,  the  Scissors  Grinder.     Reference:  Appleton. 

Ltdia  Ann  Emerson  (Porter).  Mass.  1816-.  Second 
cousin  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  Contributed  mostly 
to  the  Sunday-school  type  of  book.  Author:  Uncle 
Jerry's  Letters  to  Young  Mothers;  The  Lost  Will. 
Reference:  Appleton. 

Catherine  Maria  Trowbridge.  Ct.  1818-.  Author: 
Christian  Heroism ;  Victory  at  Last ;  Will  and  Will  Not ; 
Snares  and  Safeguards. 

Susan  Warner.  N.  Y.  1818-1885.  Pseud.  Elizabeth 
Wetherell.  Books  noted  for  strained  religious  sentimen- 
tality. With  her,  the  school  of  Hannah  More  came  to 
an  end.  Author:  The  Wide,  Wide  World  (1851); 
Queechy  (1852);  Say  and  Seal  (in  collaboration  with  her 
sister).     Reference:  Appleton. 

Rev.  William  Makepeace  Thayer.  Mass.  1820-1898. 
Congregational  minister ;  member  of  legislature.  Author : 
Youth's  History  of  the  Rebellion;  The  Bobbin  Boy; 
The  Pioneer  Boy;  The  Printer  Boy;  Men  Who  Win; 
Women  Who  Win.  Edited  The  Home  Monthly  and 
The  Mother's  Assistant.     Reference:  Appleton. 

William  Taylor  Adams.  Mass.  1822-1897.  Pseud.  Oh- 
ver  Optic.  In  early  life  ed.  Student  and  School-Mate. 
In  18S1,  ed.  Our  Little  Ones.  Then  ed.  Oliver  Optic's 
Magazine.  Author:  About  one  hundred  volumes;  first 
one  published  1853,  Hatchie,  the  Guardian  Slave.  Refer- 
ence: Appleton. 

Charles  Carleton  Coffin.  X.  H.  1823-1896.  Self- 
educated.  Varied  career  as  a  war  correspondent  during 
the  Civil  War.  Author:  The  Boys  of  '76.  Reference: 
Life  by  Grifhs;  Appleton. 

William  Henry  Thomas.  1824-1895.  Belonged  to  the 
school  of  dime  novelists.  Boys  in  the  60's  eagerly 
devoured  the  Beadle  and  (later)  Munro  books.     Author: 


162   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

The  Belle  of  Australia;   Ocean  Rover;   A  Whaleman's 
Adventure.     Reference:  Appleton. 

Mrs.  Alice  (Bradley)  (Neal)  Haven.  N.  Y.  1828-1863. 
Pseud.  Alice  G.  Lee.  Wrote  for  Sunday-schools. 
Author:  No  such  Word  as  Fail;  Contentment  Better 
Than  Wealth.  Reference:  Memoir  in  Harper's  Maga- 
zine, Oct.,  1863;  Appleton. 

Jane  Andrews.  Mass.  1833-1887.  Author:  Seven  Little 
Sisters  who  live  on  the  Round  Ball  that  Floats  in  the 
Air;  The  Stories  Mother  Nature  Told. 

Charles  A.  Fosdick.  N.  Y.  1842-.  Pseud.  Harry  Castle- 
mon.  Went  through  the  Civil  War.  Author:  Gunboat 
series;  Rocky  Mountains  series;  Roughing  It  series; 
Frank  series ;  Archie  series. 

Mrs.  Annie  M.  Mitchell.  Mass.  1847-.  Religious  books 
for  children.  Author:  Martha's  Gift;  Freed  Boy  in 
Alabama. 

Mrs.  Mary  L.  Clark.  Fairford,  Me.  1S31-.  Religious 
juveniles.  Author:  The  Mayflower  series;  Daisy's  Mission. 

Mrs.  Caroline  E.  Davis.  Northwood,  N.  H.  1831-.  Sun- 
day-school tales,  about  fifty  or  more.  Author:  No 
Cross,  No  Crown;  Little  Conqueror  Series;  Miss  Wealthy's 
Hope;  That  Boy;  Child's  Bible  Stories.  Reference: 
Appleton. 

Sara  H.  Browne.  Author:  Book  for  the  Eldest  Daughter 
(1849). 

Maria  J.  Browne.  Author:  The  Youth's  Sketch  Book 
(1850).     Reference  for  both:   Hart  (Bibl.). 


III.  The  Present  Situation. 

The  essential  difference  betvreen  the  past  and  the 
present  is  not  so  much  a  difference,  after  all;  in  both 
instances  the  same  mistaken  emphasis  is  placed  upon 
two  separate  phases  of  the  child's  make-up.  The 
moral  tale  took  no  cognisance  of  those  spiritual  laws 
which  are  above  teaching,  which  act  of  themselves; 
it  did  not  recognise  the  existence  of  the  child's  per- 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    163 

sonality.  But  when  the  impetus  toward  the  study, 
scientific  and  intensive,  of  adolescence  was  begun, 
the  teacher  lost  sight  of  the  free  will  by  which 
that  growth  advanced;  anxious  to  prove  the  child's 
development  to  be  but  a  series  of  stages  marked  by 
educational  gradings,  he  reserved  no  place  for  the 
self -development  through  which  the  personality  finds 
expression.  In  both  cases  an  unconscious  injustice 
was  done  juvenile  nature.  The  moral  question- 
ing warped  the  spirit,  the  educational  questioning 
chokes  the  imagination  and  fancy,  starving  the  spirit 
altogether.  How  many  will  agree  with  Emerson's 
assertion  that  "what  we  do  not  call  education  is 
more  precious  than  that  which  we  call  so  " .''  The 
pessimist  who  challenges  children's  books  for  chil- 
dren has  reasons  to  doubt,  after  all. 

Time  changes  not,  'tis  we  who  change  in  time. 
Emerson  speaks  in  terms  of  evolution;  by  this  very 
change  from  generation  to  generation,  the  vitality 
of  a  book  is  tested.  Again,  in  terms  of  our  mentality, 
Emerson  says  that  when  a  thought  of  Plato  becomes  a 
thought  to  us.  Time  is  no  more.  Truth  is  thus  an 
annihilator  of  the  fleeting  moment.  The  survival 
of  the  fittest  means  the  falling  away  of  the  mediocre. 
The  Sunday-school  book  was  no  permanent  type; 
its  content  was  no  classic  expression.  It  filled  a 
timely  demand — that  was  its  excuse  for  being. 
Once  this  demand  became  modified,  the  book's 
service  was  at  an  end ;  hence  Mr.  Welsh's  indication 


164   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

of  the  decline  of  the  Sunday-school  story  through 
secularisation, — from  sectarianism  to  broad  religious 
principles,  thence  to  "example  rather  than  direct 
teaching."* 

We  still  have  the  religious  tract  and  the  church  story- 
paper;  yet  the  books  of  advice  deal  with  the  social 
and  ethical  spirit,  rather  than  with  the  denomina- 
tional stricture.  "The  less  a  man  thinks  or  knows 
about  his  virtues,  the  better  we  like  him,"  wrote 
Emerson,  while  Stevenson,  in  his  "Lay  Sermons," 
placed  the  stress  thus :  "  It  is  the  business  of  life  to 
make  excuses  for  others  but  not  for  ourselves." 

To-morrow  new  topics  may  be  introduced  into 
our  juvenile  literature,  but  change  takes  longer  than 
a  day  to  become  apparent.  The  student  who  at- 
tempts to  reach  any  scientific  estimate  of  the  pres- 
ent trend  will  be  disappointed;  the  mass  is  too 
conglomerate,  and  there  are  too  many  authors 
writing  children's  books  for  money  rather  than  for 
children.  I  have  followed  the  course  as  carefully 
as  I  could,  noting  the  slight  alterations  in  concepts 
to  accord  with  the  varying  conditions.  But  there 
is  no  principle  that  can  be  deduced,  other  than  the 
educational  one.  The  changes  are  confined  to 
points  of  external  interest,  not  of  spiritual  or  mental 
significance.  For  instance,  there  was  a  time  when 
girls'    literature    and    boys'    literature    were    more 

*  Mr.  Welsh  states  that  between  1706-1718,550  books  were 
published  in  America,  of  which  84  were  nut  religious,  and  of  these 
84,  49  were  almanacs! 


CONCERNING  NOW  AND  THEN    165 

clearly  differentiated,  one  from  the  other;  their  near 
approach  has  been  due  to  a  common  interest  in 
outdoor  exercises.  Again,  things  practical,  things 
literal  have  crowded  out  the  benignant  figure  of 
Santa  Claus;  and  in  the  stead,  the  comic  supplement 
of  the  Sunday  newspaper  furnishes  pictures  that  well- 
nigh  stifle  the  true  domain  once  occupied  by  "  Mother 
Goose." 

What  would  a  parent  do,  asked  suddenly  to  deal 
with  a  promiscuous  collection  of  juvenile  books? 
Would  she  unerringly  reach  forth  for  the  volume 
most  likely  to  please  her  son's  or  her  daughter's 
taste  ?  If  she  were  to  claim  little  difference  between 
the  one  college  story  she  had  read,  and  the  several 
hundred  she  had  not  read,  she  would  not  be  far  from 
wrong.  But  we  cannot  tell  how  deep  an  impres- 
sion the  present  activity  among  writers  for  children 
will  have  on  the  future.  Our  temptation  is  to 
make  the  general  statement  that  the  energy  is  a 
surface  one,  that  no  great  writing  is  being  done  for 
children  because  it  has  become  an  accessory  rather 
than  an  end  in  itself.  Education  saved  us  from  the 
moral  pose;  it  must  not  deny  us  the  realm  of  im- 
agination and  fancy. 


V.  THE  LIBRARY  AND  THE  BOOK 


THE  LAND  OF  STORY-BOOKS 

At  evening  when  the  lamp  is  lit, 
Around  the  fire  my  parents  sit ; 
They  sit  at  home  and  talk  and  sing. 
And  do  not  play  at  anything. 

Now,  xvith  my  little  gun,  I  crawl 
All  in  the  dark  along  the  wall. 
And  follow  round  the  forest  track 
Away  behind  the  sofa  back. 

There,  in  the  night,  %chere  none  can  spy. 
All  in  my  hunter's  camp  I  lie. 
And  play  at  books  that  I  have  read 
Till  it  is  time  to  go  to  bed. 

These  are  the  hills,  these  are  the  woods. 
These  are  my  starry  solitudes  ; 
And  there  the  river  by  ivhose  brink 
The  roaring  lions  come  to  drink. 

I  see  the  others  far  array 
As  if  in  firclit  camp  they  lay. 
And  I,  like  to  an  Indian  scout, 
Aroxind  their  paiiy  prowled  aboid. 

So,  when  my  nvrse  comes  in  for  me. 
Home  I  return  across  the  sea. 
And  go  to  bed  with  backward  looks 
At  my  dear  land  of  Story-books. 

— Robert  Louis  Stcven.son,  in 

•'A  Child's  Garden  of  Verses. 
1G6 


THE   LIBRARY  AND  THE   BOOK    167 


I.    Children's    Books:    Their    Classification; 
Their  Characteristics. 

rriHERE  is  nothing  more  variegated  in  its  colour 
-*-  than  a  large  assemblage  of  children's  books; 
the  cover-designers  revel  in  their  rainbow  conceits, 
sprinkling  gold  across  the  cloth  as  generously  as 
fairies  scatter  star-dust;  the  artists  fill  their  brushes 
with  delicate  tints  of  red  and  blue  and  orange,  and 
sketch  the  progress  of  a  story  in  spiral  traceries  of 
imagination.  The  mechanical  perfection  of  book- 
making  is  genuinely  pleasing;  the  form,  like  that 
of  the  glass-blown  vase  with  its  slender  outlines,  is 
fitted  for  the  worthiest  content.  The  excellence  of 
binding,  the  distinctness  of  type,  the  spirit  of  the 
drawing — these  points  strike  our  senses,  these  are 
the  subterfuges  of  the  publishing  trade,  these  the 
artistic  features  that  hide  the  shallowness  beneath. 
You  may  arrange  your  blue  books  together,  and 
your  red,  your  brown,  your  white  or  green  in  rows; 
you  may  mix  them  all  up  again,  and  marshal  them 
in  regiments  of  equal  sizes;  the  persistent  query 
stares  you  in  the  face, — the  stinging  fact  of  igno- 
rance— what  of  the  story  you  are  about  to  buy.'' 

In  the  public  library,  the  shelves  are  empty;  you 
are  told,  as  the  librarian,  to  fill  them.  Not  for  your- 
self alone  is  the  choice  to  be  made,  or  even  for  your 
own  children,  whom  you  are  supposed  to  know; 


168  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

but  for  every  one  who  wishes  to  read.  You  have 
little  right  to  assume  much  homogeneity  of  taste 
or  desire  among  young  folks;  you  must  balance 
your  dreams  with  facts,  your  ideals  with  human 
accomplishment.  We  are  all  as  grains  of  sand  in 
the  general  scheme  of  the  universe;  we  are  all  sup- 
posed to  have  equal  chances  before  the  law;  but 
what  we  are  is  the  measure  of  what  we  read.  You 
are  the  custodian  of  a  public  trust,  not  of  your 
private  book-case.  A  row  of  children — the  poor  by 
the  side  of  the  rich,  the  newsboy  by  the  side  of  the 
patrician — you  are  to  supply  them  every  one.  Have 
you  then  the  privilege  of  assuming  an  autocratic 
policy  of  exclusion?  Can  you  say  to  yourself, 
The  newsboy  must  read  Homer! — and  refrain  from 
buying  him  his  penny -dreadful  ? 

Each  man's  standard  of  excellence  differs  from 
his  neighbour's.  Matthew  Arnold's  idea  of  the 
best  ignored  your  opinion  and  mine.  The  world 
has  put  a  face  value  on  certain  books;  they  live 
because  the  universal  in  them  and  the  universal  in 
us  is  constant  and  persistent.  And  though  we  each 
stand  upon  a  different  pivot  of  existence,  though 
the  wind  blows  with  less  fury  around  you  than  around 
me,  on  calm  nights  we  may  each  see  the  same  star, 
however  different  the  angle  of  vision. 

So,  are  you  not  here  furnished  a  starting-point  in 
your  purchases  ?  Where  you  are  concerned  with 
children,  your    opportunity   is    richer  by   far  than 


THE  LIBRARY  AND  THE  BOOK    169 

you  first  imagined.  They  have  no  preconceived 
notions;  they  stand  in  a  general  mystery  of  dawning 
experience ;  they  know  not  how  or  why ;  all  truth 
is  a  fable  before  them.  Common  things  are  ap- 
parelled in  celestial  light;  nature  is  governed  by 
omnipotence;  creation  is  the  first  meeting  with 
Aladdin's  lamp.  The  common  law  of  growth  tells 
us  this;  our  knowledge  of  men  is  carved  from  such 
general  mystery;  our  method  of  gaining  this  ex- 
perience is  higher  than  we  wot  of;  the  father  is 
judged  in  terms  of  King  Arthur  before  he  is  reckoned 
with  as  a  man. 

Therefore,  it  is  your  bounden  duty  to  satisfy  these 
several  stages.  You  must  have  pictures  for  the 
little  ones  that  will  cater  to  a  familiarity  with  common 
things,  and  will  satisfy  a  tendency  in  them  to  make 
all  nature  animate.*  You  must  find  an  artist  capable 
of  seeing  the  significance,  the  humour  of  the  dish 
running  after  the  spoon.  There  must  be  picture- 
books  that  will  treat  of  these  things  with  all  the 
purity  they  deserve ;  high-mindedness  is  an  essential 
part  of  elemental  fun.  The  nursery  claims  a  part 
in  your  plan.  Place,  then,  first  upon  your  hst,  the  best 
picture-books  and  jingles.  Let  true  art  supplant  the 
comic  supplement  sheet. 

We  will  banish  the  use  of  baffling  terms  in  speak- 
ing of  the  classes  of  juvenile  books.      Our  Fiction 

♦  The  general  complaint  among  librarians  is  that  these  picture- 
books  of  the  best  type  are  too  rare  and  too  expensive  to  purchase 
in  large  quantities  for  general  circulation. 


170   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

will  become  Stories;  our  Myths  and  Folk-lore  and 
Fables  simply  Fairy  Tales  and  Legends.  Our  ar- 
rangement now  assumes  a  definite  perspective,  from 
the  limitless  past  to  ourselves  as  the  fixed  point. 
Our  standard  is  one  of  interest;  we  will  apply  the 
test  of  excellence,  not  to  books  generally,  but  to  each 
channel  in  which  individual  interest  has  a  right 
to  seek  its  own  development.  By  a  psychological 
consideration,  we  are  able  to  hitch  our  wagon  to  a 
star,  to  span  the  distance  separating  the  Present 
and  the  Past,  the  Real  and  the  Ideal.  Myth  flows 
imperceptibly  into  legend;  and,  with  all  the  massive 
proportions  of  the  heroic,  legend  enters  and  becomes 
part  of  history.  And  history  is  vitalised  only  when 
we  present  it  to  children  in  the  form  of  biography. 
Is  it  not  Carlyle  who  defines  history  as  the  biography 
of  great  men  ? 

Thus,  we  add  still  more  to  the  positive  factors 
in  our  book  selecting.  We  will  not  disguise  for  the 
child  the  true  character  of  a  volume  by  a  nomencla- 
ture which  is  indefinite.  Better  the  terms  "  How  We 
Are  Governed"  than "  Civics " ;  and  "How  to  Make 
Things"  than  "  Manual  Training."  We  will  satisfy 
all  tastes  by  the  best  to  be  had,  and  that  rule  shall  be 
proverbial.  The  boy,  deprived  of  his  dime  novel,  * 
must  be  given  something  just  as  daring,  just  as 
redolent  with  sensationalism;    but  we  will  transfer 

*  Read  Stevenson's  "A  Penny  Plain"  in  Memories  and  Por- 
traits; also  "  The  Dime  Novel  in  American  Life,"  by  Charles  I\I. 
Harvey,  Atlantic,  100:  37  (July,  1907). 


THE   LIBRARY  AND   THE  BOOK    171 

his  den  of  thieves  from  the  area  way  to  the  broad 
green  forest,  and  his  profession  of  robbery  shall 
grow  into  outlawry;  his  Jesse  James  become  Robin 
Hood.  Some  of  the  best  literature  contains  the 
quality  of  sensationalism;  it  is  the  form  that  the 
dime  novel  has  taken,  and  the  cheap  exploitation  of 
filthy  detail,  that  have  obscured  many  of  the  most 
beneficial  elements  in  melodrama.  The  Adventures 
of  Ulysses,  the  Twelve  Labours  of  Hercules,  Daniel 
in  the  Lion's  Den,  Jonathan  and  David — the  green 
lights  are  not  far  away. 

Have  you  ever  watched  the  breathlessness  of  a 
messenger  boy  with  his  "Ragged  Dick  Series"; 
the  intent,  eager  faces  in  the  gallery  of  the  thea- 
tre during  a  melodrama  ?  Nine  times  out  of  ten, 
morals  are  not  being  perverted;  crime  is  not  being 
glorified,  but  severely  punished;  chivalry  is  acting 
in  shirt-sleeves;  the  good  is  winning  its  just  de- 
serts in  a  large  way,  and  the  boy  glows.  Not 
that  I  would  have  our  libraries  circulate  "Ragged 
Dick,"  but  there  is  more  to  remember  in  such 
stimulation,  there  is  more  effect  than  will  ever  be 
drawn  from  the  conventional  tale  with  its  customary 
noble  and  ignoble  heroes.  The  amount  of  inane 
fiction  concocted  for  children  is  pernicious. 

Literature  has  been  made  cold  to  the  child,  yet 
there  is  nothing  warmer  than  a  classic,  when 
properly  handled.  Each  man  lives  in  his  own  age; 
we  are  creatures  of  timeliness,  but  we  see  the  clearer 


172  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

for  being  at  times  on  the  mountain  peak.  The 
traveller  from  an  antique  land  is  part  of  our  experi- 
ence quite  as  much  as  the  man  around  the  corner. 
What  I  contend  is  that  the  attraction,  the  appeal 
of  a  story  depends  largely  on  the  telling.  With  a 
broad  sweep  of  right  emotion,  we  must  be  taught 
to  soar,  and  there  must  be  no  penalty  of  arrest  for 
wishing  to  o'erleap  the  false  horizon  of  a  city  sky- 
line. The  tenement  boy  is  a  dreamer,  even  though 
he  perforce  must  lay  his  cheek  against  the  rough 
brick  of  an  air-shaft  and  squint  up  at  the  stars. 
The  democracy  of  a  public  library  system  affords 
him  equal  opportunities  with  Keats — even  though 
he  may  not  have  the  same  capacity  for  enjoyment — 
to  look  into  Chapman's  Homer;  he  is  entitled  to  all 
that  vast  experience,  that  same  "hoard  of  goodly 
states  and  kingdoms."  But  if  his  author  is  not 
deep-browed,  if  he,  too,  is  not  given  the  same  pure 
serenity  of  view,  if  his  Chapman  does  not  speak  out 
loud  and  bold,  he  will  feel  himself  defrauded  of  the 
vitalising  meaning  of  literature,  he  will  have  missed 
being 

.  .  .  like  some  watcher  of  the  skies 
When  a  new  planet  swims  into  his  ken. 

This,  therefore,  should  make  you  determine  to  cry 
against  mediocrity;  to  purchase  for  those  empty 
shelves  the  best  of  a  class,  the  best  of  an  edition, 
and  the  most  authentic  of  texts. 


THE  LIBRARY  AND  THE  BOOK    173 

Lady  Eastlake  once  wrote :  "  The  real  secret  of  a 
child's  book  consists  not  merely  in  its  being  less 
dry  and  less  difficult,  but  more  rich  in  interest,  more 
true  to  nature,  more  exquisite  in  art,  more  abundant 
in  every  quality  that  replies  to  childhood's  keener 
and  fresher  perceptions.  Such  being  the  case,  the 
best  of  juvenile  reading  will  be  found  in  libraries 
belonging  to  their  elders,  while  the  best  juvenile 
writing  will  not  fail  to  delight  those  who  are  no 
longer  children.  'Robinson  Crusoe,'  the  standing 
favourite  of  above  a  century,  was  not  originally 
written  for  children;  and  Sir  Walter  Scott's  'Tales 
of  a  Grandfather,'  addressed  solely  to  them,  are 
the  pleasure  and  profit  of  every  age,  from  child- 
hood upward.  Our  little  friends  tear  Pope's 
'Odyssey'  from  mamma's  hands,  while  she  takes 
up  their  'Agathos'*  with  an  admiration  which  no 
child's  can  exceed." 

The  opinion  here  quoted  somewhat  overstates  the 
real  case.  The  experienced  librarian  of  to-day 
could  tell  a  different  tale  from  the  loan  desk;  it  is 
the  average  young  person  she  must  have  in  mind, 
and  the  average  understanding.  But  this  under- 
standing is  not  commensurate  with  the  reading 
ability  of  the  child ;  it  is  much  above  it,  and  this  fact 
also  should  be  considered  an  asset  for  the  librarian 
to  work  with.  Despite  the  theories  regarding  how 
a  story  should  be  told  to  a  seven-year-old  reader,  and 

*  By  Archdeacon  Wilberforce,  Hannah  More's  friend. 


174   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

to  one  twelve  years  old,  the  volumes  do  not  very  con- 
sistently adapt  themselves  to  such  a  classification. 
The  buyer  must  say :  Is  it  to  be  read  by  the  child  ? 
Consider  his  schooling.  Is  it  to  be  read  to  the  child  ? 
Consider  his  understanding. 

Let  us  not  subject  ourselves  to  the  criticism  that 
our  ideals  will  not  work.  If  they  are  unpractical, 
they  are  useless  and  must  be  amended.  It  is  recog- 
nised that  something  more  is  wanted  than  the 
"  masterpiece,"  so  guardedly  extolled  by  Mr.  Everett 
T.  Tomlinson,*  a  popular  author  of  boys'  books. 
He  separates  the  boy  and  the  classic  by  a  wide  gulf 
of  adolescent  requirements;  he  pleads  for  something 
in  addition  to  bone  and  tendon;  he  believes  the 
boy  demands  material  to  fit  his  mental  estate,  which 
is  not  equipped  for  "  ready  response "  to  adult 
literature.  In  other  words,  the  juvenile  book  of 
to-day,  which  is  well  typified  by  his  own  stories,  is 
to  supplement  and  not  to  supplant  the  "master- 
piece." 

The  situation  is  a  rather  delicate  and  uncertain 
one;  it  would  be  well,  as  Mr.  Tomlinson  suggests, 
if  the  results,  as  he  thinks,  were  actually  the  case. 
But  does  the  girl,  who  reads  her  "series"  trilogy, 
slip  from  Dinsmore  into  Dickens;  or  does  the 
boy,  with  his  Henty  books  filling  shelf  after  shelf, 
graduate  tlierefrom  into  Scott .''     The  theory  does 

*Vide  "Reading  for  Boys  and  Girls,"  by  Everett  T.  Tom- 
linson.    Atlantic,  86:  693  (Nov.,  1900). 


THE    LIBRARY  AND  THE   BOOK    175 

not  work,  and,  even  if  it  did,  an  immense  amount 
of  energy  is  going  to  waste  somewhere.  Miss  Hew- 
ins,  from  her  extensive  experience  as  a  worker  in 
the  Hartford  Public  Library,  has  outlined  what  you 
can  get  from  a  Henty  book  [Wisconsin  Library 
Bulletin.  Madison,  Sept.-Oct.,  1906.  Vol.  2,  No. 
5.];  her  plan  is  most  interesting,  and,  were  there 
readers  possessing  the  zeal  necessary  to  make  such 
literature  permanently  serviceable,  we  could  actually 
view  knowledge  growing  from  more  to  more.  The 
summary  is  as  follows: 

"  If  a  boy  reads  nothing  but  Henty  for  a  year  or 
so,  he  is  not  likely  to  care  for  the  great  historical 
novels  of  the  world  later,  but  if  he  uses  him  under 
guidance,  reading  after  each  one  of  his  books  a 
better  story  of  the  same  period,  if  he  look  up  places 
on  a  map,  unfamiliar  words  and  references  in  a 
dictionary  or  cyclopaedia,  and  if  he  reads  a  life  of 
one  of  the  real  characters  in  every  book,  he  is  well 
on  his  way  to  an  intelligent  interest  in  general 
history." 

But  would  it  not  be  just  as  well  to  centre  this 
concentration  directly  on  Scott  ?  The  librarian  will 
doubtless  claim  that  the  boy  turns  more  readily  to 
the  one  than  to  the  other,  and  I  believe  that  this  is 
largely  due  to  the  over-emphasis  of  Scott  as  a  stand- 
ard author,  and  of  Henty  as  a  popular  writer  for 
boys.  Scott  has  never  been  issued  in  form  to  catch 
the  young  reader's  eye.    Given  as  many  illustrations 


176  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

as  Henty,  relegating  the  preface  to  the  appendix, 
or  omitting  it  altogether,  and  the  author  of  "  Waver- 
ley"  would  be  found  to  have  lost  none  of  his  grip. 
You  will  receive  from  any  librarian  the  unfailing 
statement  that  one  of  the  most  constant  ambitions 
is  to  reduce  the  proportion  of  fiction  in  circulation, 
and,  in  that  proportion,  to  preserve  what  is  of  true 
worth  in  place  of  the  mediocre  average  of  the  mod- 
ern story-books. 

Mr.  Tomlinson's  analysis  of  the  qualities  in 
a  child's  book  may  be  indicated  by  seven  di- 
visions : 

a.  There  must  be  a  story. 

b.  There  must  be  vigorous  action  with  little  con- 
templation. "  Analysis  and  introspection  are 
words  outside  of  his  [the  child's]  vocabulary," 
says  Mr.  Tomlinson. 

c.  Fancy  is  more  to  be  sought  for  than  pure  im- 
agination. 

d.  The  writer  must  regard  the  moral  character  of 
boys:  a  lack  of  mercy,  a  strict  sense  of  justice; 
he  must  regard  their  faith  which  is  credulity; 
their  sentiment  of  reverence;  their  power  of 
being  convinced. 

e.  The  writer  must  likewise  consider  the  differ- 
ences between  the  sexes  in  the  point  of  moral 
faculties,  even  though  in  many  respects  they 
are  the  same.  For  girls  have  tender  con- 
sciences, though  not  so  tenacious;  they  are 
quick  to  promise,  and  as  quick  to  forget;  they 
are  easily  stirred  to  pity,  their  sympathy  easily 
appealed  to.  Bringing  it  down  to  an  animal- 
istic basis,  Mr.  Tomlinson  beUeves  that  though 


THE  LIBRARY  AND  THE  BOOK    177 

the  ancestral  cruelty  in  girls  is  not  so  evident 
as  in  boys,  when  it  does  flash  forth  it  is  sharper 
in  every  way.  "To  both,  right  and  wrong  are 
absolute,  not  relative  terms,  and  a  youthful 
misanthrope  is  as  much  of  an  anomaly  as  a 
youthful  grandfather." 

/.  The  sentiments  must  be  directed  in  channels 
of  usefulness  and  power,  hence  the  story  of 
patriotism,  the  situation  of  courage,  the  inci- 
dent of  tenderness. 

g.  Since  the  faculties  in  action  are  receptive, 
rather  than  perceptive,  since  the  memory  is 
keen  to  hold,  the  writer  must  bear  this  psy- 
chological status  in  mind. 

In  fine,  recognising  that  even  in  his  play  the  boy 
takes  things  seriously,  and  believing  that  the  juvenile 
intellect  "  seeks  the  reasonable  more  than  the  process 
of  reasoning,"  Mr.  TomUnson  shapes  a  dicta  of 
criticism,  a  standard  by  which  the  child's  book 
may  be  recognised  in  terms  of  vital  characteristics. 
Apply  them  to  recent  juvenile  books,  if  you  will,  and 
you  will  find  the  majority  wanting.  But  will  not  the 
classics  meet  these  requirements?  Are  we  to 
relegate  the  best  we  have  to  the  back  shelves,  and 
buy  nothing  that  smacks  of  good  style  ?  Instead 
of  putting  tight  bands  of  expectancy  about  our 
minds,  and  of  making  us  bow  down  before  a  throne 
of  iced  classics,  let  the  librarian  treat  the  "Iliad" 
genially,  let  her  represent  "Siegfried"  with  the 
broad  heavens  above  him.  The  classics  have 
yielding  power. 


178  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

It  is  characteristic  of  every  age  that  a  discontent 
is  always  manifest  with  the  conditions  as  they  exist 
at  the  time.     As  early  as  1844,  the  child's  book,  fcr 
se,  was  brought  under  rigourous  scrutiny  by  an  un- 
named critic  in  the    Quarterly    Reviev),  and  what 
was  said  then  applies  equally  as  well   to  the  state 
of  affairs  to-day.     But  this  very  entertaining  writer, 
talking  in  terms  of  judgment  founded  upon  a  keen 
understanding  of  what  such  a  book  should  be,  at- 
tempts a  list  of  juvenile  books  which  bears  all  the 
ear-marks  of  his  age ;  he  finds  it  necessary  to  select 
from  the  immediate  supply;   he  knows  that  there  is 
the  author  of  his  own  era  whom  he  cannot  discard. 
We  have  a  lurking  suspicion  that,  with  his  canons  of 
criticism,  he  would  have  altered  his  list,  could   he 
have  looked  in  perspective.     But   there   was  very 
little  range  in  children's  books  of  that  day;    the 
species   was   just   becoming    accentuated,    and   his 
element  of  timeliness  had  to  be  regarded.    Therefore, 
while  we  are  pleading  with  the  librarian  for  a  high 
choice  in  the  selection  of  books,  we  know  that  were 
the  timely  volume  omitted,  simply  on  the  basis  that 
it  did  not  conform  with  one's  idea  of  the  best,  the 
library  would  become  fixed,  like  a  dead  language. 
The  Quarterly  article  was  written  at  a  time  when 
the    secularisation   of   juvenile    literature    was    just 
beginning  to  take  place;   the  moral  and  the  educa- 
tional factors  were  looking  askance,  the  one  at  the 
other,  both  claiming  the  boy  and  girl  for  instruction. 


THE   LIBRARY  AND   THE  BOOK    179 

but  each  from  a  different  basis.  Our  author  pleads 
for  the  healthy,  normal  reader,  in  whom  "  still-born  " 
knowledge — mere  lifeless  acquisition — were  a  curse 
indeed!  He  cries  out  against  the  educational  cat- 
echism, as  he  does  against  the  moral  one.  His 
discriminating  thesis  advances  in  threefold  manner, 
for  he  writes: 

"Those  who  insist  on  keeping  the  sense  of  en- 
joyment rigidly  back,  till  that  of  comprehension  has 
been  forcibly  urged  forward — who  stipulate  that 
the  one  shall  not  be  indulged  till  the  other  be  ap- 
peased— are  in  reality  but  retarding  what  they  most 
affect  to  promote." 

And  again : 

"Children  have  no  sooner  begun  to  enjoy  than 
they  are  called  upon  to  reflect;  they  have  no  sooner 
begun  to  forget  that  there  exists  in  the  world  such  a 
little  being  as  themselves  than  they  are  pulled  back 
to  remember,  not  only  what  they  are,  but  what  they 
will  one  day  infallibly  become." 

And  still  again: 

"  Children  seem  to  possess  an  inherent  conviction 
that  when  the  hole  is  big  enough  for  the  cat,  no 
smaller  one  at  the  side  is  needed  for  the  kitten. 
They  do  not  really  care  for  '  Glimpses '  of  this,  or 
'  Gleanings '  of  that,  or  '  Footsteps '  to  the  other — 
they  would  rather  stretch  and  pull.  .  .  ." 

From  a  desert  of  dust-covered  magazines,  this 
comes  to  us  like  a  hidden  spring  bubbling  with  energy 


180   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

which  no  outer  crust  of  years  can  quell.*  Then  as 
now,  they  had  the  pernicious  school-book — instance 
Peter  Parley;^  then  as  now,  they  had  the  flippant 
tale.  Our  unknown  author  recommended  "  Puss  in 
Boots,"  with  designs  by  OttoSpecker,  as  the  beau  ideal 
of  nursery  books,  and  the  Grimm  Tales  with  Cruik- 
shank's  illustrations;  he  recognised  the  admirable 
qualities  in  the  verses  by  the  Taylor  sisters.  Miss 
Edgeworth,  Miss  Tytler,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  Mrs.  Hof- 
land,  Mary  Howitt  (although  some  of  her  books  are 
questioned),  Catherine  Sinclair,  Mrs.  Marcet,  and 
a  host  of  others,  now  dead  to  the  circulating  shelves, 
received  their  quota  of  commendation.  The  list 
is  a  curious  example  of  existing  circumstances;  it 
illustrates  the  futility  of  crystallising  the  library 
system;  it  demonstrates  that  the  library,  as  an  in- 
stitution, must  reflect  the  aspirations  of  its  age,  not 
overreaching  its  full  capacity  of  usefulness  and  of 
average  excellence. 

II.  The  Library,  The  School,  The  Home:   A 
Plea  for  Culture. 

"Criticism,"  says  Matthew  Arnold,  "must  main- 
tain its  independence  of  the  practical  spirit  and  its 
aims.     Even  with  well-meant  efforts  of  the  practical 

*  xVrticle  on  Children's  Books.  Reprinted  in  Living  Age, 
Aug.  10,  1844,  2:   1. 

t  There  was  the  Elliptical  Questioning — a  form  of  "  drawing 
out "  and  "  injecting  "  knowledge  and  information. 


THE   LIBRARY  AND  THE  BOOK    181 

spirit  it  must  express  dissatisfaction,  if  in  the  sphere 
of  the  ideal  they  seem  improverishing  and  limiting." 
Still,  not  for  a  moment  are  we  able  to  lose  sight  of 
the  active  working  conditions  of  the  library.  Specu- 
lation as  to  the  functions  of  such  an  institution  in  a 
community  may  lead  to  the  formulation  of  certain 
ideals  which  are  to  guide  the  practical  machinery 
in  the  future.  But,  on  the  instant,  there  is  the  urgent 
necessity  of  supply  and  demand;  the  theorist  must 
qope  with  the  actual  reader  calling  for  a  book. 

It  is,  however,  only  proper  to  expect  that  human 
activity  be  directed,  not  along  the  lines  of  least 
resistance,  but  along  the  lines  of  best  results.  This 
infers  that  the  library,  as  an  institution,  fully  recog- 
nises that  it  has  a  function  to  perform  in  society, 
and  that  it  will  strive,  in  its  several  capacities,  so 
to  unify  its  activities  that  it  will  become  a  force  as 
well  as  a  convenience. 

Through  pleasure,  we  would  train  the  child  to 
future  usefulness;  physically  we  would  let  him  find 
expression  for  all  his  surplus  energy;  but  as  a  reader, 
we  would  so  far  guide  him  that  none  of  his  mental 
energy  will  go  to  waste.  Intellectually,  a  boy  or  a 
girl  should  not  be  given  what  one  library  called 
"leisure  hour  reading";  a  book  should  not  mean, 
for  either,  a  vehicle  for  frittering  the  time  away,  but 
their  training  should  lead  to  the  finding  of  "  tongues 
in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks,  sermons  in 
stones,  and  good  in  everything." 


182  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

An  essential  purpose  is  a  most  important  element 
in  the  future  history  of  children's  rooms,  and  at  the 
present  initial  stage  it  were  unwise  to  criticise  the 
methods  by  which  the  library  is  trying  to  state  this 
purpose  in  definite  terms.  But  whether  we  regard 
its  activity  in  the  direction  of  the  home,  the  school, 
the  settlement,  or  the  city  at  large,  we  may  safely 
claim  that  its  main  duty  in  all  directions  is  to  supply 
the  best  books  to  be  had  on  any  stated  line.  And 
herein  we  discover  the  connection  that  ought  to  exist 
betweeen  our  schools  as  educational,  and  our  libraries 
as  cultural  centres.  In  Buffalo,  Mr.  Melvil  Dewey, 
during  an  address  given  to  teachers,  said: 

"By  law,  the  children  are  put  under  your  in- 
fluence in  their  earlier  years,  when,  if  ever,  they  can 
be  taught  to  love  good  books  so  well  that  in  all  their 
lives  thereafter  they  will  seize  on  every  opportunity 
to  read  them.  If  the  librarians,  with  their  wing  of 
the  educational  army,  can  select  and  catalogue  and 
provide  free  of  cost  the  best  on  every  subject,  the 
schoolmen,  with  their  wing  and  with  their  immensely 
larger  resources  both  of  money  and  men — and  still 
better,  of  devoted  women — must  send  out  from 
the  schools,  year  by  year,  boys  and  girls  who  will 
be  lifelong  patrons  of  the  public  library,  and  will, 
in  due  time,  help  to  send  their  own  children  along 
the  paths  which  have  proved  for  them  so  profitable 
and  pleasant;  .  .  .  but  its  great  work  should  be 
the  partial  recognition  that  education  is  no  longer 


THE   LIBRARY  AND  THE   BOOK    183 

for  youth  and  for  a  limited  course,  in  a  school  to 
which  they  give  most  of  their  time,  but  that  it  is 
really  a  matter  for  adults  as  well  as  youth,  for  life 
and  not  for  the  course,  to  be  carried  on  at  home  as 
well  as  in  the  schools,  and  to  be  taken  up  in  the 
hours  or  minutes  of  leisure,  as  the  proper  accom- 
paniment of  their  regular  business  or  labour.  This 
means  that  education  must  be  carried  on  by  means 
of  reading,  and  that,  if  the  librarians  are  to  fur- 
nish "the  books  and  give  all  necessary  help  in  their 
proper  field,  the  schools  must  furnish  the  readers." 

It  is,  therefore,  the  supreme  function  of  a  super- 
visor of  school  libraries  to  reconcile  culture  with 
knowledge-getting — taste  and  desire  with  mental 
training — quite  as  much  as  it  is  his  official  duty  to 
furnish  supplementary  books  for  the  class-rooms. 
In  fact,  the  former  should  become  his  chief 
business,  for  in  the  other  capacity  he  slightly  en- 
croaches upon,  rather  than  aids — duplicates  in  ex- 
pense, rather  than  enforces  by  supplying  a  need — 
the  work  being  done  by  the  neighbourhood 
library. 

Between  the  school  and  the  library  there  should 

thus  be  a  reciprocal  interchange  of  courtesies,  the 

sum  total  of  which  tends  toward  culture.*     For  the 

*  In  a  letter  to  the  author,  iSIr.  C.  G.  Leland,  Superintendent 
of  the  Bureau  of  Libraries,  New  York  Board  of  Education,  plainly 
states  the  province  and  the  mission  of  the  school  library.  He 
writes:  "  Nearly  all  of  our  educational  institutions  nowadays  are 
very  busily  engaged  in  supph'ing  iiseful  information.  The  practi- 
cal is  crowding  everjiliing  else  out  of  their  courses  of  study.    The 


184  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

child  is  the  potential  man,  and  in  our  reading,  despite 
the  opportunities  for  education,  we  are  not  made 
to  understand,  at  the  early  age  when  habits  are 
most  readily  formed,  the  real  import  of  the  sustaining 
power  of  art. 

The  reading  of  novels  is  a  delightful  recreation; 
it  is  not  the  reading  which  should  be  questioned;  it 
is  the  power  to  stop.  Periods  of  rest  are  a  psycho- 
logical necessity,  but  it  is  the  power  of  returning 
from  the  side  issue  to  the  life  issue,  which,  in  so 
many  cases,  is  the  missing  element.  The  literature 
that  does  nothing  more  than  amuse  is  not  the  litera- 


kind  of  knowledge  that  will  help  in  the  future  struggle  for  existence 
and  material  betterment  is  being  demanded  more  and  more  and 
is  being  taught  to  the  exclusion  of  much  that  is  only  ethical  or 
cultural. 

"  As  a  continual  protest  against  this  materialistic  tendency  the 
school  library  takes  its  position  and  marshals  its  books.  Its  first 
purpose  is  to  create  a  love  for  good  literature  and  beautiful 
pictures  as  soon  as  the  child  has  mastered  the  mechanics  of  reading; 
its  ultimate  aim  is  culture. 

"In  the  elementary  school  the  library  should  reach  to  every 
class-room  and  offer  there  a  few  very  attractive  and  very  carefully 
selected  books,  so  attractive  and  so  well  graded  that  the  most 
indifferent  boy  or  girl  will  be  led  by  easy  stages  into  the  green 
fields  of  literature. 

"The  class-room  is  still  the  strategic  point,  for  even  homes  of 
refinement  are  wont  to  delegate  the  work  of  directing  the  children's 
reading  to  the  school,  and  the  teacher  with  her  case  of  well-known 
books  has  every  day  opportunities  denied  to  public  librarian  and 
to  the  majority  of  parents. 

"The  school  library  naturally  points  the  way  to  the  public 
library;  its  relation  to  that  institution  is  that  of  the  preparatory 
school  to  the  university. 

"In  supplj-ing  reference-books,  and  in  correlating  a  certain 
amount  of  recreative  reading  with  the  school  course,  the  library 
has  another  important  field,  but  one  which  should  be  subordinated 
to  the  larger  and  broader  function." 


THE  LIBRARY  AND  THE  BOOK    185 

ture  which,  in  future  days,  one  is  to  fall  back  on  as 
a  maintaining  force.     Browning  cries  out: 

I  count  life  just  a  stuff 
To  try  the  soul's  strength  on,  educe  the  man. 

The  man  of  culture  is  something  more  than  an  up- 
start; his  is  a  slow  but  a  steady  growth;  the  smallest 
star  that  burns  into  the  night  is  one  whose  rays  have 
taken  years  to  reach  the  earth.  Out  of  the  varied 
but  unified  elements,  the  personality  evolves  its  view 
of  life ;  it  may  not  necessarily  be  a  life  among  books ; 
Shakespeare  the  man  and  Shakespeare  the  poet  are 
contradictions.  The  sustaining  force  in  literature 
is  no  protector  in  the  sense  that  it  shields  us  from 
some  impending  danger.  It  settles  behind  us,  pushes 
us,  heart  and  soul,  with  a  burning  resolution, 
through  the  darkest  night.  The  cultured  man  finds 
himself  clinging  to  the  sunnier  side  of  doubt,  not 
because  Tennyson  advises  it,  but  because  it  has  be- 
come part  of  his  philosophy;  he  falls  back  upon  a 
part  of  himself  developed  by  literature. 

Our  neighbour  is  but  a  composite  picture  of 
numberless  developments,  all  working  toward  a 
definite  goal.  We  call  him  the  cultured  man.  Our 
neighbour  is  one  who  tries  to  show  us  as  many 
pictures  of  himself,  working  in  different  directions,  as 
he  thinks  will  clothe  him  in  a  mist  of  thought.  We 
call  him  the  dilettante.     Dilettanteism  does  not  sus- 


L  ■Li.Ui.    ■ 


186   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

tain ;  we  either  have  to  be  perfectly  honest  with  our- 
selves, or  else  be  discovered  by  others  in  the  end. 

The  habit  of  association  with  good  books  is,  there- 
fore, one  which  our  school  systems  need  to  incul- 
cate. The  supervisor  of  class-room  hbraries  should 
strive  to  supplement  the  text-book  with  something 
that  is  not  a  text-book;  the  outlines  of  history 
should  be  strengthened  by  bona  fide  biography  in- 
stead of  by  the  hybrid  type  of  fiction.  A  committee 
in  Germany,  after  working  some  years  over  the  rec- 
ommendations of  books  for  children,  finally  printed 
a  list  of  C37  volumes — calling  attention  to  a  weakness 
in  travel,  popular  science,  and  biography.  This 
condition  is  as  true  in  England  and  America;  and 
one  of  the  causes  for  the  deficiency  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  substitution  of  the  text-book  style  for  the 
dignified  narrative.  The  writer  of  juvenile  books, 
other  than  fiction,  has  not  realised,  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  that  the  direct  treatment  is  capable  of  being 
understood  by  young  people. 

Conscious  of  this  weakness,  the  librarian  in  time 
will  banish  from  the  circulating  shelves  the  text 
book,  per  se  ;  and  the  school  child  should  be  prepared 
to  meet  the  change.  If  he  is  given  instruction  in 
the  uses  of  a  dictionary,*  and  of  a  card  catalogue; 
if  he  is  trained  by  degrees  to  hunt  up  references — he 
should  as  well  be  familiarized  with  the  transition 

*  This  involves  a  careful  consideration  of  a  juvenile  reference 
library. 


THE   LIBRARY  AND  THE   BOOK    187 

from  text-book  to  authority,  from  selection  to  source, 
from  part  to  whole.  From  the  mere  usefulness  of 
books  he  should  be  taught  the  attractive  power 
of  books.  This,  it  would  seem,  is  one  of  the  funda- 
mental relations  existing  between  the  library  and 
the  school. 

With  the  increase  of  facilities,  with  the  specialised 
consideration  paid  to  children's  reading  by  librarian 
and  by  teacher,  there  arises  the  factor  of  the  parent 
in  connection  with  the  two.  What  part,  in  the 
general  plan,  does  the  home  occupy.''  It  furnishes 
the  scholar;  it  furnishes  the  reader.  In  private 
instruction,  it  may  dictate  what  shall  be  taught  to 
the  boy  or  girl;  in  public  instruction,  the  individual 
becomes  part  of  the  system.  The  home  may  pur- 
chase books  for  the  particular  taste  of  this  child  or 
of  that,  but  the  public  library  must  attend  to  all 
demands.  Because  of  its  democratic  mission,  it 
partially  discourages  the  private  ownership  of  books 
by  the  average  person.  Therefore,  in  most  essen- 
tials, the  State  furnishes  the  means  of  instruction  and 
indicates  what  that  instruction  shall  be  in  its  ele- 
mentary stages;  the  State  likewise  supports  the 
library,  a  repository  where  the  regulation  and 
censorship  are  minimised  as  far  as  the  reader  is 
concerned. 

Let  us  acknowledge  the  peculiar  social  and  eco- 
nomic conditions  that  conduce  to  deprive  the  home 
of  the  means  or  of  the  time  to  give  to  the  proper 


188  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

training  of  children:  the  crowded  tenement,  the 
isolated  mountain  cabin  are  alike  in  this  denial. 
But  the  school  and  the  library  are  counteracting  the 
deficiency.  The  mental  condition  in  the  tenement 
is  more  in  a  state  of  ferment  than  in  the  mountains; 
the  second  generation  of  the  ignorant  emigrant  in 
New  York  or  Chicago  or  Cleveland  or  Pittsburg  is 
far  more  fortunate  than  the  new  generation  peopling 
our  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  in  Virginia.  Yet  the 
school  and  the  library  are  penetrating  the  dense 
maze — they  are  defying  isolation,  and  we  will  doubt- 
less discover,  before  long,  that  the  stagnation  through- 
out the  Tennessee  ranges,  and  bordering  the  northern 
line  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  has  beneath  it  a  great 
potential  future  of  intellectual  development.  Until 
the  social  settlement  passes  through  its  experimental 
stage, — perhaps  its  very  existence  is  dependent  upon 
its  experimental  character — it  were  not  safe  to  specu- 
late on  how  largely  it  will  aid  in  making  the  home 
so  far  independent  of  consuming  necessity  that  it 
will  respect  the  refinements  of  life,  and  will  recognise 
that,  in  so  doing,  each  individual  raises  his  own 
self-respect.  Should  the  settlement  accomplish  this, 
however  little,  it  will  justify  its  existence. 

The  home,  none  the  less,  remains  a  factor,  and 
its  responsibility  is  none  the  less  urgent.  The  story 
hour  is  one  of  its  legacies  from  the  past,  and  through 
it,  the  parent  should  cater  wisely  to  a  child's  desire 
for  a  tale.     If  the  library  is  also  adopting  the  same 


THE  LIBRARY  AND   THE  BOOK    189 

means,  this  in  no  way  should  relieve  the  parent  of 
the  prerogative;  it  should  only  afford  her  an  oppor- 
tunity of  improving  upon  her  own  idea  as  to  how  a 
story  should  be  told.  Home  influence  should  direct 
this  juvenile  desire,  this  individual  taste;  for  no  one 
has  the  close  knowledge  of  a  boy  or  girl  possessed 
by  the  father  or  mother. 

The  habit  of  good  reading,  mentioned  before, 
should  be  the  joint  product  of  the  libraiy,  the  school, 
and  the  home.  Yet,  in  many  instances,  the  library 
card  of  the  child  is  of  small  consideration  to  the 
parent.  This  is  more  hkely  due  to  indifference  than 
to  an  absolute  confidence  in  the  library's  effort  to 
bring  juvenile  readers  in  contact  with  the  best 
books.  The  woman's  club  that  will  study  the 
problem  of  children's  reading,  as  sedulously  as  it 
analyses  the  pathologic  significance  of  Ibsen's 
heroines,  will  be  rendering  a  service  to  the  library,  as 
well  as  fitting  its  members  to  pass  some  judgment 
on  the  publisher's  yearly  output  of  juvenile  books. 

III.  Book-lists  and  Book-selecting. 

"Shall  we  permit  our  children,"  wrote  Plato  in  the 
"  Republic,"  "  without  scruple  to  hear  any  fables  com- 
posed by  any  authors  indifferently,  and  so  to  receive 
into  their  minds  opinions  generally  the  reverse  of 
those  which,  when  they  are  grown  to  manhood,  we 
shall  think  they  ought  to  entertain  .' "     To  a  negative 


190   CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

reply  from  Adeimantus,  Glaucon's  brother,  Plato 
continued :  "  Then  apparently  our  first  duty  will  be 
to  exercise  a  superintendence  over  the  authors  of 
fables,  selecting  their  good  productions,  and  re- 
jecting the  bad.  And  the  selected  fables  we  shall 
advise  our  nurses  and  mothers  to  repeat  to  their 
children,  that  they  may  thus  mould  their  minds 
with  the  fables,  even  more  than  they  shape  their 
bodies  with  the  hand." 

Upon  the  broad  principles  here  formulated  the 
value  of  the  children's  rooms  depends.  For  it  will 
be  conceded  that  the  two  requisites  of  a  library  are 
to  place  good  books  upon  the  shelves  and  to  see  that 
they  are  read. 

In  the  first  section  of  this  chapter,  the  individual 
promptings  of  a  conscientious  person  were  suggested ; 
but  a  more  systematic  method  of  book-selection 
should  be  adopted,  whereby  a  book  is  chosen  be- 
cause it  has  passed  scrutiny  of  a  committee  elected 
for  the  special  purpose.  In  order  to  protect  the 
average  demand,  such  a  board  should,  of  necessity, 
be  a  body  catholic  in  taste,  and  not  wholly  aca- 
demic in  tone.  It  should  bear  in  mind  that  a  con- 
sulting library  is  different  in  function  and  in  appeal 
from  the  general  circulating  branches;  that  the  special- 
ised critic  must  pass,  not  always  upon  whether 
there  is  sufficient  fact  in  the  book,  but  upon  whether 
what  fact  there  is  has  been  dealt  with  truly,  rather 
than  fully. 


THE   LIBRARY   AJND    I'HE    BOOK '  191 

As  early  as  1893,  Paul  Ziegler  established  a  Ger- 
man monthly,  the  Jugendschrijtenwarte,  in  which 
he  purposed  to  teach  the  German  people  how  to 
examine  children's  books,  classical  and  modern. 
He  believed  firmly  that  he  would  be  able  to  reach 
some  scientific  basis,  some  consistent  standard, 
which  would  be  founded  upon  psychological,  peda- 
gogical, and  aesthetic  experience.  This  ambitious 
beginning  by  Ziegler  led  to  the  organisation  of 
committees  for  the  same  purpose.  In  1900,  there 
were  twenty-six  centres  throughout  the  Empire  en- 
gaged in  the  study,  and  they  were  soon  gathered 
together  by  Heinrich  Wolgast,*  a  specialist  on  the 
subject  of  children's  reading,  into  a  "union"  called 
"Die  vereinigten  deutschen  Prufungsausschiisse 
fiir  Jugendschriften." 

By  1906,  the  movement  had  so  grown  that  seventy- 
eight  local  committees,  with  a  common  interest  and  a 
strong  organisation,  were  working  in  twenty-six  Ger- 
man States,  their  energy  being  felt  and  their  example 
being  followed  in  Austria,  Switzerland,  and  France. 

These  committees  have  been  weeding  out,  ac- 
cording to  their  aesthetic,  educational,  and  national 
ideals,  all  undesirable  literature  for  children,  leaving 
nothing  but  the  best.  It  would  appear  that  in  the 
course  of  their  examination  they  called  into  account 
the   opinions   of  parent,   teacher,  librarian,  author, 

*  Heinrich  Wolgast,  the  German  authority,  has  written :  "Vona 
Kinderbuch,"  Leipzig,  Teubner,  1906. 


192  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

illustrator,  and  publisher.  The  local  committees, 
working  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  local  libraries, 
had  but  one  watchword,  excellent  ;  the  book  was  read 
three  times  by  a  number  of  committees — sometimes 
as  many  as  six,  when  the  book  would  pass  through 
eighteen  hands.  If  a  committee's  decision  was 
unanimous,  the  result  was  sent  to  the  central  office  of 
the  confederation;  if  there  was  a  difference  of  opin- 
ion, an  arbitrator  was  called  in. 

Miss  Isabel  Chadburn,  in  a  suggestive  article,* 
quotes  fully  some  of  the  final  reports  which  are  al- 
ways sent  to  the  Jugendschriftenwarte  for  publication. 
Here  is  one  dealing  summarily  with  a  book: 

"  '  The  Lifeboat,'  Ballantyne  (From  the  English 
of).  Four  pictures  in  colour,  black-and-white  illus- 
trations in  the  text;  second  edition;  8vo,  122  pages. 
Leipzig:   Otto  Spamer,  1892.     Price  1  m. 

"  Tested  by:  Berlin  (no) ;  Breslau  (no) ;  Halle  (no) ; 
Konigsberg  (yes);   Posen  (no);   Stettin  (yes). 

"  A  story  of  adventure  in  which  the  interest  of  the 
reader  is  directly  excited  through  the  keeping  up 
of  a  succession  of  extraordinary  events.  The 
characterisation  is  utterly  superficial  and  contradic- 
tory. The  style,  hard  to  understand  on  account  of 
the  numerous  technical  nautical  terms,  is  full  of 
indistinct  and  distorted  metaphors  and  expressions. 
The  pictures  are  crude  and  badly  drawn.  Upon 
these  grounds  the  book  is  rejected." 

*  Vide  London  Library  Association  Record,  Feb.  15,  1907. 


THE  LIBRARY  AND  THE  BOOK    193 

By  the  German  method,  a  poor  book  would  find 
small  chances  of  surviving.  Already  this  test  has 
met  with  opposition  from  the  German  "Union  of 
Booksellers,  Selling  on  a  Commission."  But  the 
crusade  is  steadily  gaining  ground  and  the  influence 
having  effect. 

The  academic  tone  detected  in  this  plan  is  its 
one  objection.  Were  the  same  policy  adopted  in 
America,  it  would  only  add  to  an  already  over- 
conscious  education-getting  process.  As  we  seem 
to  be  obsessed  by  the  idea,  far  better  it  would  be 
simply  to  trust  to  a  general  impression  of  a  book, 
than  to  have  it  squeezed  and  analysed  out  of  ex- 
istence. A  teacher  who  served  on  such  a  board 
would  be  obliged  to  cut  herself  completely  adrift 
from  the  school-room  atmosphere,  and  to  criticise 
from  a  cultural  standpoint,  tempered  by  her  educa- 
tional experience. 

We  have  our  own  children  to  consider;  European 
States  are  sending  us  theirs.  It  is  no  small  matter 
to  decide  what  they  should  read.  In  the  library, 
the  juvenile  member  is  to  find  a  full  and  free  develop- 
ment. Russian  and  Polish,  French,  German  and 
Italian,  Yiddish  and  English — all  these  must  be 
satisfied.  But  there  is  one  thing  positive;  however 
conglomerate  the  membership,  a  library  for  children 
must  assume  as  a  fundamental  maxim  that  the  best 
books  alone  will  create  the  best  taste. 

We  shall  be  obliged  to  come  to  it  sooner  or  later, — 


194  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

a  guillotine  method — the  wholesale  eviction  of  all 
literature  which  is  an  outgrowth  of  this  attempt 
to  drag  our  classics  down,  in  order  to  appeal  conde- 
scendingly to  youthful  intellects,  and  to  foreshorten 
our  fiction  so  as  to  satisfy  a  trivial  mood.  Wisely, 
the  librarian  is  moving  by  degrees ;  a  sudden  adoption 
of  a  rigorous  standard  would  find  an  army  of  readers 
wholly  unprepared;  the  ideal  must  be  made  to  suit 
the  needs  of  different  environments.  Whatever 
rules  are  formulated  to  hasten  the  improvement, 
they  must  be  pliable  and  not  fixed;  for,  though  all 
localities  may  be  improving,  this  betterment  will 
be  found  to  vary  in  degree  with  each  section. 

Having  stacked  the  shelves,  the  next  step  is  to 
appeal  to  the  child  through  suggestion;  to  find  out, 
as  well  as  opportunity  will  permit,  wherein  his  tastes 
lie,  and  what  class  of  book  dominates  his  card,  as 
seen  by  the  catalogue  notation  stamped  upon  it. 
The  librarian  must  seek  to  divert  any  miscarriage 
of  energy;  to  lead  away  from  undesirable  tendencies 
by  gradual  substitution  of  something  a  little  higher 
in  motive  and  much  stronger  in  style.  She  must 
resort  to  exciting  subterfuges:  the  bulletin  accessory, 
the  book-lists,  the  story  hour — in  fact,  whatever  lier 
inventive  mind  can  shape  to  awaken  interest,  to 
foster  a  desire  for  something  above  the  average 
taste. 

There  are  some  who  approve  of  closing  the  shelves 
to  children,  and  in  this  way  of  directing  the  distribu- 


THE  LIBRARY   AND  THE   BOOK     195 

tion  of  books  to  the  individual.  Not  only  is  this 
impracticable,  but  it  deprives  a  child  of  that  personal 
contact  with  all  kinds  of  books  by  means  of  which 
he  is  to  learn  his  own  inclination.  We  must  infer 
that  all  books  upon  the  juvenile  shelves  are  placed 
there  because  they  are  thought  suitable  for  children. 
The  librarian  may  reserve  that  prerogative  of  con- 
cealing a  book  and  regarding  it  out,  should  a  demand 
for  it  come  from  one  who  should  not,  for  any  ap- 
parent reason,  have  it.  But  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
librarian  over  the  child-taste,  just  as  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  teacher  over  the  child-mind,  ends  where  the 
home  is  expected  to  proclaim  its  effectiveness  and 
its  right. 

IV.  The  Experimental  Temptation. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  treat  statistic- 
ally the  reading  tastes  of  children,  but  the  results  are 
significant  only  in  a  few  details,  and  even  these  vary 
from  locality  to  locality,  as  they  differ  from  child  to 
child.  The  psychology  of  sex  becomes  apparent  by 
the  manner  in  which  boys  and  girls  respond  to  the 
same  stimulus.  But  we  ought  not  to  place  much 
value  upon  a  canvass  of  this  kind,  for  the  answers  that 
are  sent  to  any  class  of  questions  are  more  or  less 
artificial,  in  many  cases  reflecting  some  grown 
person's  estimate  of  a  book.  It  is  important  for 
the   hbrarian   to   know   the   proportions   in   which 


196  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

fiction  and  non-fiction  are  circulated,  and  what 
books  are  in  greatest  demand.  The  temperature 
changes  of  taste  need  thus  to  be  followed.  But 
history  deals  with  crucial  moments. 

Every  one  interested  in  the  subject  of  juvenile 
reading  has  tried  to  experiment  and  has  received 
quaint  answers  to  stereotyped  questions — answers 
filled  with  humour,  now  and  then  with  a  spontaneous 
exclamation  of  appreciation.  In  my  own  case, 
some  four  hundred  letters  were  sent  to  me  from 
children,  North  and  South.  They  showed  me  local 
variations  in  reading  tastes;  they  showed  me  edu- 
cational weaknesses,  such  as  a  general  mechanical 
study  of  a  few  hackneyed  poems;  they  showed  me 
an  indiscriminate  reading,  by  the  fourteen  or  fifteen- 
year-old  girl,  of  fiction  such  as  Besant's  "  Children 
of  Gideon"  and  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward's  "Fen- 
wick's  Career."  Furthermore,  they  pointed  in 
some  instances  to  individual  tastes;  and  most  of 
them  indicated  a  dire  confusion  as  to  the  meaning 
of  the  terms  fiction  and  non- fiction. 

By  such  an  experiment,  however,  one  begins  to 
realise  how  rich  the  field  of  juvenile  energy  is — a 
stream  of  voluntary  desire  seeking  some  course  to 
the  sea.  From  a  multitude  of  such  letters  one  may 
comprehend  why  the  librarian  insists  on  proceeding 
slowly  in  order  to  counteract  deficiencies.  The  news- 
boy, without  his  five-cent  weekly,  still  must  have  his 
penny-dreadful  classic;  the  girl,  too  old  for  the  juvenile 


THE  LIBRARY  AND  THE  BOOK    197 

book,  must  be  furnished  with  a  transitional  book  on 
the  way  to  the  grown-up  shelves ;  our  foreign  children 
must  be  encouraged  to  read,  according  to  the  libra- 
rian's idea,  something  different  from  themselves, 
something  not  of  their  own  environment.* 

We  were  warned  by  the  writer  in  the  Quarterly 
Review  not  to  regard  the  extremes  of  genius  or  of 
dulness,  in  estimating  children.  And  yet,  biography 
is  filled  with  that  appealing  detail  of  juvenile  taste, 
which  the  grown  person  delights  in  recording. 
Lamb's  remembrance  of  the  Stackhouse  Bible, 
Coleridge's  dreamy  dread  of  the  Arabian  Nights, 
Scott's  lusty  shouting  of  the  ballad  of  Hardy  Knute, 
Tennyson's  spreading  his  arms  to  the  sky  and 
chanting,  "I  hear  a  voice  that's  speaking  in  the 
wind,"  Stevenson's  crooning  to  himself  in  the  dark 
his  "songstries"  f — these  touches  do  not  betoken 
the  genius  of  men,  but  the  genius  of  childhood. 
Whenever  we  find  such  young  people  brought  in  con- 
tact with  children's  literature,  they  do  not  rehsh  the 
experience;  they  recognise  as  of  value  only  that 
which  they  can  but  partially  comprehend,  yet  which 
is  told  out  of  the  depths  of  a  writer's  heart  and 
understanding.     They  respond  to  the  spirit  of  great 

*  This  last  statement,  however,  may  be  refuted  by  the  repertoire 
of  a  Yiddish  theatre.  I  have  witnessed  the  theme  of  "  King  Lear" 
applied  to  Jewish  life,  and  followed  with  bated  breath  by  the  boy 
in  the  gallery. 

t  Stevenson's  father  once  stood  outside  the  door  and  recorded 
one  of  these  impromptu  poems.  The  Rev.  Charles  Kingsley, 
when  a  boy,  is  said  to  have  done  the  same  thing. 


198  CHILDREN'S  BOOKS  AND  READING 

literature  from  their  earliest  moments;  for  its  sake, 
they  overcome  the  sensitiveness  of  temperament 
which  nowadays  must  be  in  so  far  reckoned  with  that 
all  causes  for  fear  are  rejected  from  a  story.  To 
them,  there  is  a  certain  educative  value  in  fear. 
Coleridge,  timourous  as  he  was  when  not  more  than 
six,  devoured  the  gilt-covered  books  of  Jack-the- 
Giant-Killer  and  of  Tom  Hickathrift,  whom  Thack- 
eray delighted  in,  not  because  he  was  so  tall,  but 
because  he  was  so  thick;  and  though  it  is  said  that 
his  father  burnt  many  of  these  nerve-exacting  tales, 
we  hear  Coleridge  exclaiming  during  the  course  of 
a  lecture  delivered  in  1811: 

"Give  me  the  works  which  delighted  my  youth! 
Give  me  the  History  of  St.  George  and  the  Seven 
Champions  of  Christendom,  which  at  every  leisure 
moment  I  used  to  hide  myself  in  a  corner  to  read! 
Give  me  the  Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments, 
which  I  used  to  watch,  till  the  sun  shining  on  the 
book-case  approached,  and,  glowing  full  upon  it, 
gave  me  the  courage  to  take  it  from  the  shelf."  * 

We  interpret  these  remarks  in  terms  of  genius, 
without  giving  the  average  mind  credit  for  such 
opinions,  just  because  they  are  left  unrecorded. 
Every  child  has  his  night  fears  and  his  day  dreams, 
however  regulated  they  may  be  by  his  social  environ- 
ment.    These  vary  in  degree  according  to  the  intel- 

*  Vide  W.  ]M.  Rossetti's  Memoirs  of  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti. 
Chap.  VI,  Childish  Book  Reading  and  Scribbling. 


THE   LIBRARY  AND  THE   BOOK    199 

lectual  energy  and  spiritual  refinement  fostered  in 
each  one  of  us.  The  Hbrarian's  problem  is  based 
upon  an  acknowledgment  of  this  potential  energy 
and  refinement;  she  reckons  with  the  child's  volun- 
tary interest.  For  all  childhood  is  seeking  to  find 
expression  in  numberless  ways;  its  eye  for  the  first 
time  sees  the  outline  of  life,  its  voice  expresses  for 
the  first  time  the  rhythm  of  its  nature  in  song.  Its 
compass  in  all  things  is  small,  but  its  timbre  is  pure. 


VI.  APPENDIX 

I.  Book-lists  Published  by  Libraries. 

^iTHAT  principle  of  selection  shall  one  adopt  in 
'  *  making  a  book-list  ?  No  hard  and  fast  rules 
can  be  framed,  for  what  I  may  consider  best  may 
be  rejected  as  second  best  by  you.  There  is  not  a 
book-list  issued  that  does  not  differ  from  the  others 
in  many  essentials;  in  classification,  in  titles,  and  in 
purpose.  Most  of  these  lists  are  marked  by  a 
sincere  effort  on  the  part  of  librarians  to  direct  a 
child's  reading  along  the  best  lines.  But  even 
though  they  may  be  suggestive  and  helpful,  at  the 
most  they  are  passive  and  need  to  be  supplemented 
by  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  books  recommended. 
For,  in  the  lists  of  history  and  biography,  a  compiler 
finds  it  necessary  to  adopt  many  volumes  that  are 
far  from  literary  in  the  style  of  writing  or  in  the  man- 
ner of  treatment.  To-morrow  these  books  may 
give  place  to  others  far  superior  and  far  more  per- 
manent in  value. 

The  agreement  between  the  lists,  however,  does 
show  that  there  are  numberless  stories,  legends,  and 
the  Uke,  which  are  generally  acceded  to  be  desirable, 

200 


BOOK-LISTS  201 

as  much  because  of  their  inherent  freshness  as  be- 
cause of  the  fact  that  they  have  stood  the  test  of 
time.     Rarely  do  the  Usts  fail  to  mention  them. 

Notwithstanding,  the  recommendations  issued  by 
the  libraries  usually  are  sent  forth,  hedged  around  by 
exceptions  and  by  indirect  warnings.  This  is  a 
healthful  sign;  it  indicates  that,  however  intent  the 
maker  of  book-lists  may  be  to  offer  the  best,  human 
nature  is  not  all  of  the  same  calibre,  and  excellence 
is  of  an  illusive  character. 

It  is  with  some  peculiar  pleasure  that  I  offer  the 
list  of  books  in  this  Appendix,  protecting  myself, 
and  the  committee  that  aided  me,  with  excuses,  and 
forestalling  criticism  by  claiming  that  while  the 
recommendations  have  been  made  to  the  best 
of  several  abilities,  and  in  accord  with  no  mean 
standards  of  selection — at  the  same  time  much  has 
been  included  of  necessity  which  will  pass  away  in 
the  years  to  come.  This  is  not  an  exclusive  list; 
the  attempt  has  been  made  to  have  it  a  practical, 
workable  list,  for  parents  and  teachers  and  librarians 
to  consult,  bringing  to  it  their  own  personal  judg- 
ment as  to  individual  taste  and  development  of  the 
child  under  consideration.  Such  a  term  as  "the 
child"  has  been  used  reluctantly,  since  there  is  no 
other  term,  more  human,  less  mechanical,  to  take 
its  place.  Because  of  this  dislike  for  a  stereotyped 
grading  of  childhood,  the  reader  will  here  find  no 
indication  as  to  age  demands.     The  books  have  been 


202  APPENDIX 

mentioned  with  a  generous  range  of  from  six  to 
fifteen  years. 

Other  Hsts  will  be  found  to  include  a  fuller  division 
of  subjects.  Notably  in  the  historical  sections, 
they  will  contain  many  more  references  than  are 
here  given.  Our  histories  smack  largely  of  the 
school -room ;  they  do  not  differ  so  very  much  from 
each  other  as  to  excellence;  they  are  very  apt  to 
agree  in  the  zealousness  with  which  they  follow  fact. 
If  we  decide  to  seek  for  general  literary  merit,  we 
should  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  the  inclusion  of  what 
we  know  is  not  the  case ;  of  what  w^e  know  is  intended 
for  the  class-room. 

And  so,  in  order  to  supplement  our  method,  which 
may  be  considered  too  narrow  or  too  broad,  the 
following  table  of  available  lists,  which  have  been 
brought  to  my  notice,  is  included: 

BOOK-LISTS 

A.  L.  A.  Annotated  Lists — Books  for  Boys  and 
Girls.  A  Selected  List  Compiled  by  Caroline  M. 
Hewins,  Librarian  of  the  Hartford  Public  Library. 
1904.  $0.15.  A  most  judicious  and  Uterary 
standard. 

A  List  of  Books  Recommended  for  a  Chil- 
dren's Library — Compiled  for  the  Iowa  Library 
Commission  by  Annie  Carroll  Moore,  Supervisor 


BOOK-LISTS  203 

of  Children's  Rooms  in  the  New  York  City  Public 
Library.     Another  excellent  and  practical  guide. 

Books  for  Boys — Special  Bulletin  No.  6.  January, 
1906.  The  Chicago  Public  Library.  A  generous 
selection  for  boys  from  twelve  to  eighteen;  an 
inclusive  list,  marked  more  by  vigour  than  by  re- 
finement of  a  fastidious  nature. 

Fingerposts  to  Children's  Reading — Walter 
Taylor  Field.  McClurg,  $1 .00.  The  book  con- 
tains some  practical  suggestions  about  children 
and  their  reading.  The  lists  in  the  Appendix 
are  open  to  criticism. 

The  Right  Reading  for  Children — Compiled 
by  Charles  Welsh.  Heath.  Referring  chiefly 
to  Heath's  Home  and  School  Classics. 

Story  telling  to  Children  from  Norse  Myth- 
ology and  the  Nibelungenlied — References 
to  Material  on  Selected  Stories,  Together  with  an 
Annotated  Reading  List.  Carnegie  Library,  Pitts- 
burgh.    $0 .  20.     Excellent. 

Story  Hour  Courses  for  Children  from  Greek 
Myths,  the  Iliad,  and  the  Odyssey,  as  Con- 
ducted by  the  Children's  Department  of  the 
Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburgh.  $0.05.  An 
excellent  guide. 


204  APPENDIX 

A  List  of  Good  Stories  to  Tell  to  Children 
UNDER  Twelve  Years  of  Age,  with  a  Brief  Ac- 
count of  the  Story  Hour  Conducted  by  the  Chil- 
dren's Department,  Carnegie  Library,  Pittsburgh. 
$0.05.     The  same  Library  has  issued: 

Annotated  Catalogue  of  Books  Used  in  the 
Home  Libraries  and  Reading  Clubs,  conduct- 
ed by  the  Children's  Department.     $0 .  25. 

Books  for  Children — A  List  Compiled  by  Ger- 
trude Wild  Arnold.  The  Marion  Press,  New 
York.     1905. 

Reading  for  the  Young — Sargent.     Houghton. 

A  Children's  Library — Selected  by  INIay  H. 
Prentice  and  Effie  L.  Power,  in  behalf  of  the 
Cleveland  Normal  School. 

Catalogue  of  Books  for  Public  School  Libra- 
ries IN  New  York — Compiled  by  Claude  G. 
Leland.  Marked  by  educational  requirements, 
and  graded. 

A  List  of  Books  on  Birds  for  the  General  Reader 
and  Students.  Audubon  Society  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  Recommended  by  Mr.  Frank  INI. 
Chapman,  of  the  New  York  Museum  of  Natural 
History.  Vide  "Bird-Lore,"  a  magazine  which 
Mr.  Chapman  edits. 

Children's  Reference  Lists — Cleveland  Public 


BOOK-LISTS  205 

Library.  English  History  for  the  Sixth  Grade. 
The  system  here  adopted  is  excellent,  and  might 
be  followed  with  advantage  in  other  lines. 

Children,  Schools,  and  Libraries — A  list,  with 
abstracts,  of  some  of  the  more  important  contribu- 
tions to  the  subject.  Compiled  by  Marion  Dickin- 
son in  1897;  revised  by  Mary  MedHcott  in  1899. 
Springfield  Pubhc  Library.  Springfield,  Massa- 
chusetts.    A  very  serviceable  pamphlet. 

Five  Hundred  Books  for  the  Young — George 
E.  Hardy.     Scribner. 

Some  English  Catalogues  recommended  by  Miss 
Isabel  Chadburn: 

a.  Catalogue  of  Books  for  Secondary  Schools. 
h.  Prize  List,  Education  Committee,  London 
County  Council.     Graded. 

c.  Buckingham    Palace    Road    Library.     Mr. 
Pacy. 

d.  Cable    Street,    Stepney,   E.,  Library.     Mr. 
Roebuck. 

e.  Descriptive  Handbook  to  Juvenile  Literature. 
Finsbury  Public  Libraries,  Mr.  Cannons. 

/.  Group  of  Books  for  Schools.     Librarian  of 
the  Cardiff  Library.     Mr.  Ballinger. 

As  far  as  nature  books  are  concerned,  it  will  be 
found  that  local  differences  have  to  be  observed; 


206  APPENDIX 

yet,  though  the  British  and  American  writers  are 
bound  to  these  limitations,  they  are  none  the  less 
alike  in  their  scope — to  furnish  the  juvenile  readers 
with  a  ready  reference  guide  to  objects  around  them. 
In  the  present  instance,  the  list  which  has  been  com- 
piled, voted  upon,  and  arranged,  may  suit  the  Eng- 
lish child  as  well  as  the  American  child,  although 
certain  local  inclusions  need  to  be  balanced  by  the 
substitution  of  English  counterparts.  The  American 
school  story,  per  se,  will  never  supplant  its  English 
predecessor  in  "Tom  Brown  at  Rugby,"  or  even 
"  The  Crofton  Boys."  The  American  library  shelves 
are  stacked  with  the  English  make  of  book.  And 
it  must  be  acknowledged  that,  in  point  of  scholarship, 
the  English  classics,  given  a  library  and  literary 
Jormat,  surpass  the  school-book  shape  in  every  way. 
In  this  connection,  it  is  well  to  heed  the  warning  of 
Miss  Moore: 

"  The  choice  of  editions  is  not  based  upon  extended 
comparative  work.  [What  is  said  of  her  list  applies 
as  well  to  the  present  one.]  It  represents  merely 
the  editions  which  have  come  to  my  notice,  some 
of  them  being  quite  unsatisfactory.  This  is  an 
era  of  educational  publications  and,  while  many 
of  these  are  admirably  adapted  to  their  purpose, 
we  have  need  to  be  constantly  on  our  guard  not 
to  overstock  children's  libraries  with  books  which 
have  no  artistic  merit  as  to  cover  or  general  make- 
up, and  which   therefore    fail  to  make    a  definite 


BOOK-LISTS  207 

individual  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  child  and 
give  to  a  children's  library  the  general  appear- 
ance of  book-shelves  devoted  to  supplementary  read- 
ing." 

Were  this  intended  to  be  an  exclusive  list,  many 
very  rigourous  omissions  would  have  been  the  result; 
but  it  is  better  to  err  upon  the  generous  side  than  to 
appeal  to  an  exceptional  taste.  "  A  man's  reach 
should  exceed  his  grasp  "  is  the  Browning  philosophy, 
but  in  the  climb  upward  the  intermediate  tendrils 
are  necessary  for  holding  on;  nor  must  they  be  re- 
moved until  something  is  assured  to  take  their  place. 
The  removal  of  inferior  books  from  the  shelves  will 
not  remedy  the  matter,  unless  existing  circumstances 
are  such  as  to  meet  the  case. 

Where  it  is  possible,  the  least  expensive  edition 
has  been  adopted ;  although  it  is  often  a  fact  that  no 
choice  has  been  given.  A  good  edition  for  a  library 
is  the  most  desirable,  and  those  committees  are  un- 
wise which  sacrifice  quality  for  quantity.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  unfortunate  that  a  more  suitable 
arrangement  cannot  exist,  whereby  the  artistic  books, 
which,  by  reason  of  their  decorative  character,  are 
perforce  expensive,  could  be  offered  at  less  exor- 
bitant rates  to  an  institution  of  such  social  importance 
as  a  Ubrary. 


208  APPENDIX 

II.  A  List  of  Selected  Books  for  Children. 

PICTURE-BOOKS  AND  PICTURES 

(The   NisTER  PicTURE-BooKs    are   sold  in  this 
country  by  Dotton.) 

Bedford,  Frances  D. — Book  of  Shops.  (Verses 
by  E.  V.  Lucas.)   Button,  $2.50. 

Bradley,  Will — Peter  Poodle,  Toy  Maker  to  the 
King.     Dodd,  $1.50  net. 

Caldecott,  Randolph — Toy  Books.  Warne,  (4 
vols.)  $1.25  each.  The  separate  stories  are  sold 
at  $0.25  each,  and  comprise,  among  a  large  num- 
ber, the  following:  The  Farmer's  Boy;  A  Frog 
He  Would  A- Wooing  Go ;  Hey  Diddle  Diddle  and 
Baby  Bunting;  The  House  That  Jack  Built; 
The  Milk  Maid;  The  Queen  of  Hearts;  Ride  a 
Cock  Horse;  Sing  a  Song  of  Sixpence;  John 
Gilpin. 

Cox,  Palmer — The  Brownie  Books.  Century, 
$1.50  each. 

Crane,  Walter — Mother  Hubbard's  Picture  Book. 
Lane,  $1 .  25. 

This  Little  Pig's  Picture  Book.  Lane,  $1 .  25. 
[There  are  other  volumes.  Crane  also  ill.  Lamb's 
fanciful  essay,  "  The  Masque  of  Days."  Cassell, 
$2.50.] 


BOOK-LISTS  209 

Mother  Hubbard;  This  Little  Pig;  Aladdin; 
Beauty  and  the  Beast;  Bluebeard;  The  Forty 
Thieves;  The  Frog  Prince;  Goody  Two  Shoes; 
Sleeping  Beauty;  The  Fairy  Ship;  Baby's  ABC 
Lane,  $0.25  each. 

De  Monvel,  Boutet — Filles  et  Gar9ons.  (Stories 
by  Anatole  France.)     Hachette;  Brentano,  $2 .  35. 

Chansons  de  France  pour  les  petits  Fran9ais. 
Hachette;  Plon,  $2.50. 

La  Civilite  puerile  et  honnete.  Plon;  Bren- 
tano,  $2.35. 

Nos  Enfants.  (Text  by  Anatole  France.) 
Hachette;  Brentano,  $1.25. 

Fables  de  La  Fontaine,  choisies  pour  les  en- 
fants.    S.  P.  C.  K. ;  Brentano,  $2 .  35. 

Gerson,  Virginia — Happy  Heart  Family.  Duf- 
field,  $1.00.    (There  is  a  second  volume.) 

Greenaway,  Kate — A  Day  in  a  Child's  Life. 
(Music,  verse,  pictures.)     Warne,  $1.50. 

Marigold  Garden.  Routledge  (Warne,  $1.50), 
$2.00. 

Under  the  Window.  (Pictures  and  Rhymes.) 
Warne,  $1.50. 

A  Apple  Pie,  etc.     Warne,  $0 .  75. 

Mother  Goose.     Warne,  $0 .  75. 

Mavor's  Spelling  Book.     Warne,  $0.40. 


210  APPENDIX 

GuiGOU,  p.  ET  ViMAR,  A. — L'illustre  Dompteur. 
(The  French  Circus  Book.)  Plon;  Brentano, 
$2.35. 

Hoffmann,  Heinrich — Slovenly  Peter.  Coates, 
$1.50.     [German  editions  are  preferable.] 

Perkins,  Lucy  Fitch — Adventures  of  Robin  Hood. 
Stokes,  $1 .  50. 

Whitcomb,  Ida  P. — Young  People's  Story  of  Art. 
Dodd,  $2.00.  [Sarah  Tytler  is  the  author  of 
"The  Old  Masters  and  their  Pictures";  "Modern 
Painters  and  Their  Paintings."  Little,  Brown, 
$1.50  each.  Vide  Poetry;  also  German  sec- 
tion, Richter,  etc.  The  French  are  here  included 
since  they  are  so  familiar  to  English  readers.] 

MYTHS,    FOLK-LORE,    LEGENDS,    FAIRY 
TALES,  AND    HERO   TALES 

iEsop — Fables.  (Tr.,  Joseph  Jacobs.)  Macmillan, 
$1.50. 

A  Hundred  Fables  of  vEsop.  (Tr.,  Sir  Roger 
L'Estrange;  intro.,  Kenneth  Grahame.)  Lane, 
$1.50  net. 

The  Babies'  Own.  (111.,  Walter  Crane.) 
Warne,  $1.50. 

Andersen,  H.  C— Fairy  Tales.  (Tr.,  H.  L. 
Braekstad;  ill.,  Tegncr;  2  vols.)  Century,  $5.00. 
Fairy  Tales.     (Tr.,    Mrs.    Edgar  Lucas.)  Mac- 


BOOK-LISTS  211 

millan,  $0.50;  Dent,  $2.50.  [HI.,  the  Robin- 
sons. Vide  also  Contes  Choisis,  Bibliotheque 
Rose.] 

Arabian  Nights'  Eni'ertainments — (Ed.,  Andrew 
Lang.)     Longmans,  $2.00. 

Fairy  Tales  From.     (Ed.,  E.  Dixon.)     Dent, 
2  vols.,  7s.  6d.  net  each. 

AsBJORNSEN,  P.  C. — Fairy  Tales  From  the  Far 
North.  Ai-mstrong,  $2.00;  Burt,  $1.00.  [Folk 
and  Fairy  Tales.  Tr.,  H.  L.  Braekstad;  intro., 
E.  W.  Gosse.] 

Baldwin,  James — The  Story  of  Siegfried.  (111., 
Pyle.)     Scribner,  $1.50. 

The  Story  of  Roland.     (111.,  Birch.)     Scribner, 
$1.50. 

Brown,  Abbie  Farwell — The  Book  of  Saints  and 
Friendly  Beasts.     Houghton,  $1.25. 

In    the    Days    of    Giants.     Houghton,    $1.10 
net. 

BuLFiNCH,  Thomas — The  Age  of  Fable.  Lothrop, 
Lee,  $1.50.  [Cheaper  editions,  Altemus,  Crow- 
ell,  etc.] 

Cantor,  William — True  Annals  of  Fairyland. 
Reign  of  King  Herla.  (111.,  Charles  Robinson.) 
Dent,  4s.  6d.  net. 

Carroll,  Lewis — Alice's  Adventures  in  Wonder- 


212  APPENDIX 

land.  (111.,  Sir  John  Tenniel.)  Macmillan, 
$1.00.  [There  is  also  an  edition,  Harper,  ill., 
by  Peter  Newell,  $3.00  net.  The  reader  is  ad- 
vised to  consult  Mr,  Dodgson's  Life  and  Letters.] 

Through  the  Looking-Glass  and  What  Alice 
Found  There.  (111.,  Sir  John  Tenniel.  Sequel 
to  the  above.)    Macmillan,  $1 .  00. 

Chapin,  a.  a. — Story  of  the  Rhinegold.  Harper, 
$1 .  25.  [Vide  also  "  Wonder  Tales  from  Wagner." 
She  is  the  author  of  "Masters  of  Music."  Dodd, 
$1.50.] 

Church,  A.  J. — Charlemagne  and  the  Twelve 
Peers  of  France.     Macmillan,  $1.75. 

Cruikshank,  George — The  Cruikshank  Fairy 
Book.     Putnam,  $1.25;  $2.00. 

Francillon,  R.  E. — Gods  and  Heroes.  Ginn, 
$0.40. 

Gibbon,  J.  M.  (Ed.) — True  Annals  of  Fairyland. 
Reign  of  King  Cole.  (111.,  Charles  Robinson.) 
Macmillan,  $2.00. 

Grimm,  J.  L.  and  W.  K. — Fairy  Tales  of  the 
Brothers.  (Tr.,  Mrs.  Edgar  Lucas;  ill.,  Arthur 
Rackham.)  Lippincott,  $2.50;  $1.50.  [Edi- 
tions also  ill. ,  Cruikshank ;  intro. ,  Ruskin, — Chatto 
and  Windus,  6s. ;  Macmillan,  ill.,  Walter  Crane, 
$1.50;  Contes  Choisis;  Bibliotheque  Rose;  vide 
German  section.] 


BOOK-LISTS  21S 

Harris,  Joel  Chandler — Uncle  Remus  and  His 
Friends.     (111.,  Frost.)     Houghton,  $1 .  50. 

Nights  with  Uncle  Remus.  (111.,  Church.) 
Houghton,  $1 .  50. 

Uncle  Remus:  His  Songs  and  His  Sayings. 
(Ill,  Frost.)     Appleton,  $2.00. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel — A  Wonderbook  for 
Girls  and  Boys.  (111.,  Walter  Crane.)  Houghton, 
$3.00. 

Tangle  wood  Tales.  (111.,  G.  W.  Edwards.) 
Houghton,  $1.00;   $2.50. 

HoHNE,  Richard  Hengist — The  Good-Natured 
Bear.  [Out  of  print,  but  re-publication  is  strongly 
recommended  by  librarians.] 

Ingelow,  Jean — Mopsa,  the  Fairy.  Little,  Brown, 
$1.25. 

Irving,  Washington — Rip  Van  Winkle  and  The 
Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow.  Macmillan,  $1 .  50. 
[Expensive  illustrated  editions  issued  by  Putnam 
and  Doubleday.] 

Jacobs,  Joseph — English  Fairy  Tales.  Putnam, 
$1.25. 

The  Most  Delectable  History  of  Reynard  the 
Fox.     Macmillan,  $1 .  50. 

Book  of  Wonder  Voyages.     Macmillan,  $1.50. 

Celtic  Fairy  Tales.     Putnam,  $1.25. 


214  APPENDIX 

KiNGSLEY,  Charles — The  Heroes;  or,  Greek 
Fairy  Tales  for  My  Children.  (111.,  T.  H.  Robin- 
son.) Dutton,  $2.50.  [Vide  also  editions  Crow- 
ell;  Harper,  $2.50.] 

The  Water  Babies.  Macmillan,  $1.25. 
[Cheaper  Editions.] 

Kipling,  Rudyard — Just-So  Stories.  Doubleday, 
$1 .  20  net.  [There  is  also  a  "  Just-So  Song  Book," 
$1.20  net.] 

Jungle  Book.  (First  and  second  series.) 
Century,  $1 .  50  each. 

Puck  of  Pook'sHill.  (111.,  Arthur  Rackham.) 
Doubleday,  $1.50. 

Laboulaye,  E.  R.  L.  de — Fairy  Tales.  Routledge, 
$1.25;  Harper,  $2.00. 

The  Last  Fairy  Tales.     Harper,  $2 .  00. 

La  Fontaine — Selected  Fables.  (111.,  Boutet  de 
Monvel.)     Young,  $2.50. 

Lang,  Andrew  (Ed.) — The  Red  Fairy  Book. 
Longmans,  $2.00. 

The  Blue  Fairy  Book.     Longmans,     $2 .  00. 
The  Book  of  Romance.     Longmans,  $1 .60  net. 

Lanier,  Sidney — The  Boy's  King  Arthur.  Scril)- 
ner,  $2.00.  [Lanier  bases  his  narrative  on  Mal- 
lory.  Vide  Howard  Pyle's  "  Story  of  King  Arthur 
and  His  Knights."     Scribner,  $2.50.] 


BOOK-LISTS  215 

The  Boy's  Froissart.     Scribner,  $2.00. 

Knightly  Tales  of  Wales;  or,  The  Boy's 
Mabiiiogion.     Scribner,  $2.00. 

The  Boy's  Percy.  [Full  introduction  and  the 
ballads  based  on  original.]     Scribner,  $2.00. 

Mabie,  H.  W. — Norse  Stories.     Dodd,  $1 .  80  net. 

MacDonald,  George — At  the  Back  of  the  North 
Wind.     Routledge,  $1 .  25 ;  Burt,  $1 .  00. 

Mulock-Craik,    Dinah    M. — The    Fairy    Book. 

Macmillan,  $1 .  00. 

The  Adventures  of  a  Brownie.  Harper,  $0.60; 
Page,  $0.50. 

The  Little  Lame  Prince.     Harper,  $0.60. 

MrssET,  Paul  de — ]Mr.  Wind  and  iNIadam  Rain. 
Putnam,  $2.00.  [Vide  Petite  Bibliotheque 
Blanche.] 

Perrault,  Charles — Fairy  Tales.  Macmillan, 
$0.40  net.     [Vide  p.  36.] 

Pyle,  Howard — ^Nlerry  Adventures  of  Robin  Hood. 
Scribner,  $3.00.  [An  excellent  version  of  the 
ballad  has  been  issued  by  Stokes,  ill.,  Lucy 
Fitch  Perkins.] 

RusKix,  John — King  of  the  Golden  River.  Ginn, 
$0.25;  Page,  $0.50. 

Scudder,  Horace  E.  (Compiler.) — Book  of  Legends. 
Houghton,  $0.50. 


216  APPENDIX 

Stockton,  Frank  R. — The  Queen's  Museum  and 
Other  Fanciful  Tales.  Scribner,  $2.50.  [Vide 
former  edition,  "  Clocks  of  Rondaine  and  other 
stories."     Scribner,  $1 .  50.] 

Thackeray,  W.  M. — The  Rose  and  the  Ring. 
Putnam,  $0.50,  $1.00.     [Vide  other  editions.] 

POETRY  AND  VERSE 

Allingham,  William — The  Ballad  Book.  Mac- 
millan,  $1.00. 

Blake,  William — Songs  of  Innocence.  (111.,  Ger- 
aldine  Morris.)     Lane,  $0.50  net. 

Browning,  Robert — The  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin. 
(111.,  Kate  Greenaway.)     Warne,  $1.50. 

Burgess,  Gelett — Goops  and  How  to  be  Them. 
(Several  volumes.)     Stokes,  $1.50. 

Gary,  Alice  and  Phcebe — Ballads  for  Little 
Folks.     Houghton,  $1.50. 

Child,  Lydia  Maria — Flowers  for  Children ;  New 
Flowers  for  Children.  [Out  of  print,  but  re-pub- 
lication is  strongly  recommended  by  librarians.] 

Dodge,  Mary  Mapes  (Ed.) — Baby  Days.  Century, 
$1.50. 

English  and  Scottish  Popular  Ballads.  (Ed., 
Sargcnt-Kittrcdge,  from  Francis  James  Child's 
collection,  Cambridge  edition.)    Houghton,  $3.00. 


BOOK-LISTS  217 

Field,  Eugene — Poems  of  Childhood.  (Ill,  Max- 
field  Parrish.)     Scribner,  $2.50. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver — The  Deserted  Village.  (HI., 
E.  A.  Abbey.)  Harper,  $3.00.  [Abbey  also 
illustrated  "She  Stoops  to  Conquer,"  $5.00.] 

Henley,  W.  E.  (Compiler) — Lyra  Heroica:  A 
Book  of  Verses  for  Boys.     Scribner,  $1 .  25. 

Holmes,  Oliver  W. — Poems.  (Complete  ed.,  Cam- 
bridge.) Houghton,  $2.00,  $1.50.  [Vide  ''The 
One  Hoss  Shay,"    ill.,  Howard  Pyle,  $1.50.] 

Jerrold,  Walter  (Ed.) — The  Big  Book  of 
Nursery  Rhymes.     Dutton,  $3 .  00. 

Lamb,  Charles  and  Mary — Poetry  for  Children. 
(111.,  Winifred  Green;  pref.,  I.  Gollancz.)  Dent, 
2s.  6d.  net.  [Vide  in  same  edition  "  Mrs.  Leices- 
ter's School,"  5s.  net.] 

Lang,  Andrew  (Ed.) — The  Blue  Poetry  Book. 
Longmans,  $2.00. 

Lear,  Edward — Nonsense  Books.  Little,  Brown, 
$2.00.     [Vide  also  Warne  edition.] 

Longfellow,  Henry  W. — Poems.  (Complete  ed., 
Cambridge.)  Houghton,  $2 .  00.  [Vide  also ' '  Hia- 
watha," ill..  Remington,  $4.00.] 

Lowell,  James  R. — The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal. 
Houghton,  $1.50. 


218  APPENDIX 

Lucas,  E.  V.  (Ed.) — A  Book  of  Verses  for  Children. 
Holt,  $2 .  00.     [There  is  a  school  edition.] 

Macaulay,  T.  B. — Lays  of  Ancient  Rome.  Long- 
mans, $1 .25.     [Vide  editions  Houghton,  Putnam.] 

Matthews,  Brander — Poems  of  American  Pa- 
triotism. Scribner,  $1.50.  [Fzc^e  "English  His- 
tory Told  by  English  Poets."  Ed.,  Bates  and 
Coman.     Macmillan,  $0.60  net.] 

Mother  Goose  Nursery  Rhymes  (111.,  Tenniel, 
Crane,  etc.) — Dutton,  $1.50.  [Vide  Nistcr  cd., 
Routledge,  etc.] 

Mother  Goose's  Melodies — Houghton,  $1.50. 

Norton,  C.  E.  (Ed.) — Heart  of  Oak  Books.  Heath, 
7  vols.,  from  $0.25  to  $0.60.  [Collection  of 
Rhymes,  Poems,  Stories,  etc.] 

Palgrave,  F.  T. — The  Children's  Treasury  of 
Enghsh  Song.     Macmillan,  $1 .  00. 

Patmore,  Coventry  (Ed.) — Children's  Garland 
from  the  Best  Poets.     Macmillan,  $1.00. 

Repplier,  Agnes  (Ed.) — Book  of  Famous  Verse. 
Houghton,  $0 .  75  and  $1 .  25. 

Riley,  James  Whitcomb — Rhymes  of  Childhood. 
Bobbs-Merrill,  $1.25. 

RossETTi,  Christina  G. — Sing-Song.  Macmillan, 
$1.50. 


BOOK-LISTS  219 

Scott,  Sir  Walter — Marmion;  The  Lay  of  the 
Last  Minstrel.  (Ed.,  W.  J.  Rolfe.)  Houghton, 
$0 .  75  each. 

Shute,  Katharine  H.  and  Dunton,  Larkin 
(Compilers) — The  Land  of  Song.  Silver,  3  vols., 
$0.36  to  $0.54. 

Stevenson,  Robert  L. — ^A  Child's  Garden  of 
Verses.  Scribner.  (111.,  Robinson,  $1.50;  ill., 
Jessie  W.  Smith,  $2.50.)  [An  excellent,  inexpen- 
sive edition.  Rand,  McNally,  $0 .  75.] 

Taylor,  Jane  and  Ann — Little  Ann  and  Other 
Poems.  (111.,  Kate  Greena way).  Warne,  $1.00. 
[Vide  also  edition,  ed.,  E.  V.  Lucas.  Stokes, 
$1 .  50.  Including  verses  of  Adelaide  O'Keefe ;  ill., 
F.  D.  Bedford.  Vide  "Greedy  Dick  and  Other 
Stories  in  Verse,"  by  the  Taylors,  $0.50.] 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  Lord — Selected  Poems  for 
Young  People.  (Ed.,  W.  J.  Rolfe.)  Houghton, 
$0.75.  [Children  should  be  made  acquainted 
with  parts  of  the  "Idylls  of  the  King."] 

Watts,  Isaac — Childhood  Songs  of  Long  Ago. 
Wessels,  $0.75.     [Vide  Enghsh  editions.] 

Welsh,  Charles — Book  of  Nursery  Rhymes. 
(Edited  and  graded.)  Heath,  $0.30.  [In  Home 
and  School  Classics.] 

WiGGiN,  K.  D..  xiND  Smith,  N.  A.  (Eds.) — Golden 


220  APPENDIX 

Numbers:    A  Book  of  Verse  for  Youth.     McClure, 
$2.00  net. 

Posy  Ring:  A  Book  of  Verse  for  Children. 
McClure,  $1.25  net.  [The  same  editors  have 
gathered  together  a  book  of  nursery  rhymes.] 

CLASSICS 

Cervantes,  Miguel  de — Don  Quixote  of  the 
Mancha.  (Retold  by  Judge  E.  A.  Parry;  ill., 
Walter  Crane.)     Lane,  $1.50. 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey — Canterbury  Tales.  (Retold 
by  Percy  MacKaye;  ill.,  W.  Apple  ton  Clark.) 
Duffield,  $2.50. 

Canterbury  Chimes;  or,  Chaucer  Tales  Re- 
told to  Children.  Storr,  Frances  and  Turner, 
Hawes.     Kcgan,  Paul,  3s.  6d. 

Chaucer  for  Children.  Mrs.  H.  R.  Haweis. 
Scribner,  $1.25. 

Church,  A.  H. — Lords  of  the  World.  (Pictures 
from  Roman  Life  and  Story).     Appleton,  $1 . 50. 

Herodotus — Wonder  Stories  from.  Told  by 
Boden,  G.  H.,  and  D' Almeida,  W.  B.  Harper, 
$2.50. 

Homer— Iliad.  (Tr.,  W.  C.  Bryant.)  Houghton, 
$1.00  to  $9.00.  [Vide  also  tr.,  Lang,  Leaf, 
Myers.] 


BOOK-LISTS  221 

Lamb,  Charles — The  Adventures  of  Ulysses. 
Harper,  $2.50.  [Vide  also  ed.,  E.  V.  Lucas, 
Putnam.] 

Odysseus,  Adventures  of — (Retold  by  Marvin, 
F.  S.,  and  others;  ill.,  Charles  Robinson.)  But- 
ton, $1 .50.  [Vide  also  ed.,  G.  H.  Palmer  and  W. 
C.  Perry.] 

Plutarch — Lives.  [Full  ed.;  also  J.  S.  White's 
"Boys'  and  Girls'  Plutarch."     Putnam,  $1.75.] 

Sha-KESPEARE — Girlhood  of  Shakespeare's  Heroines. 
Mary  Cowden  Clarke.  (111.,  Sir  John  Gilbert.) 
Scribner,  $3.00. 

Tales  from.  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb. 
Macmillan,  $1.00.  (Ed.,  Ainger.)  [Vide  also  ed., 
E.  V.  Lucas,  Putnam;  ed.  ill.,  Norman  M.  Price, 
Scribner;  ed.  Nister.  Quiller  Couch  has  treated 
the  historical  tales  in  the  same  manner.     Scribner.] 

Swift,  Dean — Gulliver's  Travels.  Macmillan, 
$1.25  net. 

TowRY,  M.  H. — S~enser  for  Children.  Scribner, 
$1.25. 

"HOW  TO  DO  THINGS"— AMUSEMENTS 

Alcott,  L.  M. — Little  Women  Play.  (Adapted 
from  the  story  by  E.  L.  Gould.)  Little,  Brown, 
$0.50. 


222  APPENDIX 

Beard,  Dan — The  Field  and  Forest  Handy  Book. 
Scribner,  $2.00. 

The  Jack  of  All  Trades.     Scribner,  $2.00. 
The  American  Boy's  Handy  Book.     Scribner, 
$2.00. 

Beard,  L.  and  A. — Things  Worth  Doing  and  How 
to  Do  Them.     Scribner,  $2 .  00. 

Handicraft  and  Recreation  for  Girls.     Scribner, 
$2.00. 

Black,  Alexander — Photography  Indoors  and 
Out.     Houghton,  $1.25. 

Boys,  C.  V. — Soap  Bubbles  and  the  Forces  Which 
Made  Them.     Gorham,  $0 .  75. 

Cutter,  Mrs.  S.  J.  (Compiler.) — Conundrums, 
Riddles,  Puzzles,  and  Games.     Hansauer. 

Games  Book  for  Boys  and  Girls.  Dutton,  $2 .  50. 
(Vide  Nister.) 

Kelley,  L.  E. — Three  Hundred  Things  a  Bright 
Girl  Can  Do.     Estes,  $1.75. 

King,  G.  G. — Comedies  and  Legends  for  Marion- 
ettes.    Macmillan,  $1.50. 

Lewis,  A.  J.  (Prof.  Hoffman.) — Magic  at  Home. 
Cassell,  $1.25.  [Vide  also  "Modern  Magic." 
Routlcdge,  $1.50.] 

Lucas,  E.  V.  and  Elizabeth — What  Shall  We  Do 
Now?     vStokes,  $2.00. 


BOOK-LISTS  223 

Newell,  Peter — Topsys  and  Turvys.  Century, 
$1.00  net. 

Seton,  Ernest  Thompson — The  Wild  Animal 
Play.     Doubleday,  $0.50. 

Syrett,  Netta — Six  Fairy  Plays  for  Children. 
Lane,  $1 .  00  net. 

White,  Mary — How  o  Make  Baskets.  Double- 
day,  $1 .  00  net.  [The  same  author  has  written  a 
second  volume.  Many  workers  prefer  "Cane 
Basket  Work."  Annie  Firth.  London:  Gill; 
New  York:   Milton  Bradley.] 

MUSIC 

In  the  preparation  of  this  music  bibliography,  it 
is  a  rare  privilege  to  be  able  to  include  a  list  which 
was  compiled  by  the  late  Miss  Mary  L.  Avery,  of  the 
music  department  of  the  Lenox  Library,  New  York; 
and  which  was  used  in  a  lecture  delivered  by  her 
before  the  Pratt  Institute  Library  School  on  January 
12,  1900.  To  this,  the  following  supplementary  list, 
based  upon  recommendation,  may  be  added.  Prices 
vary. 

Brainard,  H.  L.  (music),  and  Sage,  Betty  (words) 
— Four  Childhood  Rhymes.  Schirmer;  The  Bos- 
ton Music  Co. 

CooLiDGE,  Elizabeth — Fifteen  Mother  Goose  Mel- 
odies.    Schirmer.     (Music  somewhat  difficult.) 


224  APPENDIX 

Fisher,  William  Armes — Posies  from  A  Child's 
Garden  of  Verses.     Ditson. 

Gatnor,  Jessie  L.  (music),  and  Riley,  C.  (words) 
—Songs  of  the  Child  World.  Nos.  1,  2.  The 
John  Church  Co. 

Jenks,  Harriet  S.,  and  Rust,  Mabel — Song 
Echoes  from  Child  Land.     Ditson. 

Jordan,  Jules — A  Life  Lesson.  (Words  by  Riley.) 
Schmidt. 

McLaughlin,  James  M.,  and  Gilchrist,  W.  W. — 
Educational  Music  Course.  Teachers'  Edition 
for  Elementary  Grades.     Ginn. 

Mother  Goose  Set  to  Music.  (Elliott,  J.  W.) 
Novello.  [An  edition  is  published  by  Houghton, 
$1.50.] 

Riley,  Gaynor,  Beale — Songs  for  Children.  John 
Church  Co. 

Taubert,  Wilhelm — Klange  aus  der  Kinderwelt. 
Schirmer. 

In  addition,  such  names  as  Eleanor  Smith  and 
Harvey  Worthington  Loomis  should  not  be  omitted, 
as  composers  who  recognise  successfully  the  require- 
ments of  children's  voices.  These  requirements 
cannot  be  too  often  reiterated.  In  a  letter  to  the 
author,  the  following  was  underscored:  "A  child's 
song  must  be  written  almost  entirely  in  the  middle 


BOOK-LISTS  225 

register  of  the  voice — neither  too  high  nor  too  low. 
Then  there  must  be  a  distinct  melody  for  the  child's 
ear  to  catch  readily.  And  the  words  must  interest  the 
child's  mind."  In  this  last  respect  music-teachers 
are  most  emphatic.  They  appeal  for  verses  that 
stimulate  the  i  magination,  they  wish  words  carefully 
chosen ;  in  the  teaching,  they  seek  for  purity  of  dic- 
tion, for  proper  valuation  of  vowels,  consonants, 
and  word-endings. 

Miss  Avery's  Music  List.    Music  in  Children's 
Libraries 

Breitkopf  Edition  Catalogue — Breitkopf  and 
Hartel.     New  York. 

Musical,  The,  Interests  [tastes]  of  Children — 
Fanny  B.  Gates.  West.  Springfield,  Mass.,  1898. 
[Reprinted  from  the  Journal  of  Pedagogy,  October, 
1898.] 

NovELLo's  School  Music  Catalogue  (Operettas, 
etc.) — [Descriptive.]     London. 

Scribner's  Musical  Literature  List — New 
York. 

Literature  of  Music 

Letters  from  Great  Musicians  to  Young  Peo- 
ple— Alathea  E.  Crawford  and  Alice  Chapiri. 
New  York,  1897 


226  APPENDIX 

Musicians  in  Rhyme  for  Childhood's  Time — 
Crawford  and  Sill.     New  York,  Schirmer. 

Story  of  Major  C  and  his  Relatives:  Lessons 
IN  Harmony — Grace  S.  Duff.     New  York,  1894. 

Story  of  Music  and  Musicians — Lucy  C.  Lillie. 
New  York. 

Story  of  the  Rhinegold — Chapin. 

Wagner  Story-Book — William  Henry  Frost.  New 
York. 

Vocal  Music 

Baby's  Bouquet — (Old  songs.)  111.,  Walter  Crane. 
Routledge. 

Baby's  Opera — (Old  songs.)  111.,  Walter  Crane. 
Routledge;  Warne. 

Book  op  Rhymes  and  Tunes — Compiled  by  Mar- 
garet P.  Osgood  [from  German  and  English]. 
Boston,  1880. 

Book  of  Old  Rhymes  Set  to  ]Music — Walter 
Crane.     Warne,  $1.20. 

Child's  Garden  of  Song — Arranged  by  Wm.  L. 
Tomlins.     Chicago,  1895. 

Child's  Garden  of  Verses — 12  Songs  by  Steven- 
son.    Music  by  Mary  Carmichael.     London. 


BOOK-LISTS  227 

Child's  Garland  of  Songs  [From  a  Child's 
Garden  of  Verses.] — R.  L.  Stevenson.  Music  by 
C.  Villiers  Stanford.     Tendon,  1892. 

Children's  Singing  Games — Eleanor  Withey  Wil- 
lard.     Grand  Rapids,  1895. 

Children's  Souvenir  Song  Book — Arranged  by 
Wm.  L.  Tomlins.     New  York,  1893. 

Christmas  (A)  Dream — School  Operetta — Moffat. 
London,  Novello. 

Christmas  Carols  Ancient  and  Modern — Wm. 
L.  TomHns.     New  York,  1897. 

Christmas  Carols  New  and  Old — Bramley  and 
Sir  John  Stainer.     Novello;  Routledge. 

Garland  of  Country  Song — (English  folk  songs.) 
Arranged  by  S.  Baring  Gould  and  H.  F.  Sheppard. 
London,  1895. 

Kindergarten  Chimes — Kate  Douglas  Wiggin. 
Boston  (cop.),  1887. 

Kinderlieder — ^\'on  Carl  Reinecke.  Leipzig; 
New  York,  Schirmer. 

Kinder-  und  Jugend-lieder  (50) — Von  Hoffman, 
V.    Stuttgart. 

Kinderlieder  (24) — Gustav  Fischer.     New  York. 

Kinderlieder-Album — Amalie  Felsenthal.  Leip- 
zig. 


228  APPENDIX 

May-day  Revels  (Operetta,  Old  English  style.) — 
Hawkins  and  West.     London. 

Musik-Beilage  zu  Kinderfest — J.  Fischer.  Ber- 
lin, Bloch. 

National,  Patriotic,  and  Typical  Airs  of  All 
Lands,  with  Copious  Notes — John  Philip  Sousa. 
Philadelphia,  1890. 

Old  May  Day  (Operetta.) — Shapcott  Wensley 
and  F.  C.  Wood.     London. 

Olde  Englyshe  Pastimes — F.  W.  Galpin.  (Dances 
and  sports,  old  music.)     London. 

Singing  (A)  Quadrille,  Set  to  Nursery  Rhymes, 
for  Pianoforte  and  Voices — Cotsford  Dick. 

Singing  Verses  for  Children — Lydia  Coonley 
and  others.     New  York,  1897. 

Small  Songs  for  Small  Singers — W.  H.  Neid- 
linger.  (Coloured  ill.,  Bobbctt.)  New  York, 
Schirmcr. 

St.  Nicholas  Operettas.     Century. 

St.  Nicholas  Songs.     Century. 

Songs  of  Childhood — Eugene  Field.  Music  by 
Reginald  de  Koven  and  others.     New  York,  1896. 

Stevenson  Song  Book — Music  by  various  com- 
posers.    New  York,  1897. 


BOOK-LISTS  229 

Three  Operettas  (Three  Little  Kittens; 
Seven  Old  Ladies  of  Lave^^der  Town;  Bobby 
Shaftoe) — H.  C.  Bunner  and  Oscar  Weil.  New 
York,  1897. 

Instrumental  Mtisic 

Haydn's  Kinder-symphonie — For  Piano  and 
Violin  and  Toy  Instruments. 

Our  Favorites  (Unsere  Lieblinge).  [Piano  gems 
arranged  by  Carl  Reinecke.]  New  York,  Breit- 
kopf  and  Hartel. 

Schumann,  Robert — Album  for  Young  Pianists. 
Op.  68. 

Kinderball.  (Dances,  four  hands,  for  Piano.) 
Op.  130. 

Kinderscenen.     (Piano.)     Op.  15. 

SCIENCE  AND   INV^ENTION 

Baker,  Ray  Stannard — Boy's  Book  of  Inventions. 
McClure,  $2.00.  [There  is  a  second  volume, 
$1.60.] 

Ball,  Sir  Robert  Stawell — Starland.  Ginn, 
$1.00. 

Darwin,  Charles  R. — "Wliat  ]\Ir.  Darwin  Saw 
in  His  Voyage  Round  the  World  in  the  Ship 
"Beagle."     Harper,  $3.00. 


230  APPENDIX 

Iles,  George — Flame,  Electrcitiy,  and  the  Camera. 
Doubleday,  $2.00  net. 

Meadowcroft,  W.  H. — A  B  C  of  Electricity.  Em- 
pire Publishing  Co.,  $0.50. 

Newcomb,  Simon — Astronomy  for  Everybody.  Mc- 
Clure,  $2.00  net. 

Santos-Dumont,  Alberto — My  Air-Ships.  Cen- 
tury, $1.40  net. 

Scientific  American  Boy:  or,  The  Camp  at 
Willow  Clump  Island — A.  Russell  Bond.  Munn 
and  Co.,  $2.00. 

Serviss,  Garrett  P. — Astronomy  with  an  Opera- 
Glass.  Appleton,  $1.50.  [This  book  has  been 
challenged.] 

Sloane,  T.  O'C. — Electric  Toy-making. — Henley, 
$1.00.  (Vide  also  St.  John,  T.  M.— Three  books 
on  electricity.     Scribner.) 

TRAVEL 

BoYESEN,  H.  H. — Boyhood  in  Norway.  Scribner, 
$1.25. 

The  Modern  Vikings.     Scribner,  $1.25. 

Brassey,  I>ady  a.  (A.) — Around  the  World  in  the 
Yacht  "Sunbeam."  Holt,  $2.00;  Longmans 
(condensed),  $0.75;   Burt. 


BOOK-LISTS  231 

Du  Chaillu,  p.  B. — The  Land  of  the  Long  Night. 
Scribner,  $2.00. 

Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun.     Harper,  2  vols., 
$5.00. 

Janvier,  Thomas  A. — The,  Aztec  Treasure  House. 
(Narrative.)     Harper,  $1.50. 

Jenks,  Tudor — Boys'  Book  of  Explorations. 
Doubleday,  $2.00. 

Kennan,  George — Tent  Life  in  Siberia.  Putnam, 
$0.50  to  $1.25. 

Knox,  Thomas  W. — Boy  Travellers  in  Russia. 
Harper,  $2.00. 

Boy  Travellers  in  South  America.  Harper. 
$2 .  00.  [In  these  volumes  there  is  a  large  amount 
of  information  which  would  have  been  more 
graphic,  reUeved  of  the  artificial  conversational 
style.] 

LuMMis,  Charles  F. — Some  Strange  Corners  of 
Our  Country.     Century,  $1 .  50. 

Nansen,  Fridtjof — Farthest  North:  Record  of  a 
Voyage  of  the  Ship  "Fram."  Harper,  2  vols., 
$4.00. 

Peary,  Mrs.  J.  D.  and  ^L  A.— Children  of  the 
Arctic.     Stokes,  $1.20  net. 

Snow  Baby.     Stokes,  $1 .  20  net. 


232  APPENDIX 

SloCum,  Joshua — Sailing  Alone  Around  the  World 
in  the  Sloop  "Spray."  Whole  edition.  Century, 
$2.00;  school  edition,  Scribner,  $0.50. 

Stanley,  Henry  M. — In  Darkest  Africa.  Scribner, 
2  vols.,  $7 .  50.  [Vide  also  "  My  Dark  Companions, 
and  Their  Strange  Stories."     Scribner,  $2.00.] 

Taylor,  Bayard — Boys  of  Other  Countries.  Put- 
nam, $1.25. 

FRENCH 

"The  collection  of  books  which  we  call  'Biblio- 
theque  Rose'  (the  paper  bound  edition  has  a  pink 
cover;  perhaps  that  is  the  reason  why  we  call  it 
Bibliotheque  Rose)  includes  the  most  charming 
stories  a  child  can  wish  for,  especially  those  of  ]\Ime. 
de  Segur's  and  Zenaide  Fleuriot's.  In  this  collection 
as  well  as  in  the  Bibliotheque  des  Petits  Enfants,  and 
in  the  large  illustrated  albums,  much  will  be  found 
of  interest  to  children  of  from  six  to  ten  years. 

"For  older  boys  and  girls  (10-15j,  I  would  recom- 
mend Bibliotheque  des  Meres  de  Famille.  At  the 
present  time  the  only  tiling  I  remember  about  this 
collection  is  that  there  were  in  it  a  number  of  books 
translated  from  the  German  by  Emmeline  Raymond, 
and  which  used  to  give  me  much  pleasure. 

"  As  far  as  I  can  judge,  girls  and  boys  of  this  age 
enjoy  Jules  Verne,*  Charles  Wagner,  H.  Greville, 
H.  Malot,  E.  About,  Erckmann-Chatrian,*  Anatole 


BOOK-LISTS  23S 

France,  Daudet,  and  La  Fontaine,  the  two  I  have 
starred  being  special  favourites  with  boys.  Of 
course,  I  would  not  recommend  for  children  every- 
thing by  these  authors.  I  have  suggested  many 
books  in  the  Bibliotheque  Rose;  there  are  other 
writers  in  that  collection,  such,  for  example,  as  Mme. 
Cazin,  ISIlle.  J.  Gouraud,  Maistre,  Mayne-Reid, 
Mme.  Papc-Carpantier,  Mme.  de  Stolz,  and  Mme. 
de  Witt, — all  of  whom  have  done  some  excellent 
juvenile  work.  But  a  parent  should  not  be  satisfied 
with  a  recommendation;  personal  judgment  is  the 
surest  test. 

"  Regarding  poetry,  there  are  many  short  pieces  by 
Mme.  Tastu,  well  adapted  for  very  young  children. 
In  the  anthologies  which  are  published  you  are  most 
likely  to  find  such  pieces  as  Victor  Hugo's '  L'enfant,' 
'Pourles  pau\Tes,'  'Aprfes  la  bataille';  Lamartine's 
'L'automne,'  'Milly';  extracts  from  Corneille  and 
Racine;  and  Chateaubriand's  well-known  'Com- 
bien  j'ai  douce  souvenance.'  Then  there  are  a 
number  of  Coppee's  poems;  Berenger's  'Les  sou- 
venirs du  peuple,'  and  'A  mon  habit';  Andre 
Chenier's'La  jeune  Captive';  Hegesippe  Moreau's 
'LaVoulzie';  Brizeux's  'La  pauvre  fille';  Theu- 
riet's  *La  Chanson  du  Vannier';  and  poems  of 
Mme.  Desborde-Valmore.  This  will  give  some 
idea  of  how  rich  the  field  of  poetry  is,  which,  with 
La  Fontaine  alone,  would  supply  children  with  untold 
enjoyment. 


234  APPENDIX 

"  The  educational  value  in  most  of  the  books  which 
I  have  suggested  consists  chiefly  in  the  attractive 
manner  in  which  they  are  written ;  there  is  no  '  le9on 
de  morale  '  in  disguise  in  the  style,  yet  such  books 
are  more  than  well-written  stories.  Children  read 
Mme.  de  Segur's  books  with  much  more  pleasure 
than  they  do  the  old-fashioned  Berquin's,  which 
are  'ennuyeux.'  Such  stories  as  Mme.  de  Segur 
writes  make  a  deep  impression,  since  they  teach 
agreeably  to  love  the  qualities  which  we  grown-ups 
wish  to  see  in  children,  and  to  dislike  those  faults 
which  we  would  blame  in  them,  even  if,  sometimes, 
the  naughty  child  in  the  story  is  made  attractive. 

"You  will  see,  we  have  no  special  books  of  animal 
stories,  such  as  you  publish  in  England  and  in 
America — unless  you  consider,  of  course.  La  Fon- 
taine's fables,  which  do  not  give  any  practical  know- 
ledge of  animal  life.  Books  which  appeal  to  the 
heart,  or  to  the  imagination,  are  very  popular  with 
French  children,  who  are  naturally  sensitive  and 
imaginative;  but,  after  all,  is  it  not  so  with  every 
child,  French  or  English  or  American  ? 

"  It  has  been  my  experience  that  American  children 
(the  very  young  ones),  if  they  were  able  to  read  the 
French  books  French  children  of  the  same  age  read, 
enjoyed  them  quite  as  much.  The  difference  in 
national  temperament  develops  later  on.  The 
American  boy  or  girl  grows  up  more  rapidly  than  the 
French  boy  or  girl;    acquires  the  practical  sense 


BOOK-LISTS  235 

sooner;  has  a  more  real  view  of  life.  Perhaps  this 
is  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  the  French  child  has 
little  independence,  and  hence  is  unpractical.  But 
there  is  a  compensation  somewhere,  for  the  French 
child's  mind  is  subtler,  and  his  imagination  more 
vivid.  I  do  not  think  we  have  any  library  system 
at  present  where  children's  work  is  a  specialty;  in 
fact,  our  public  libraries  are  mostly  frequented  by 
grown-up  people.  I  have  never  seen  children,  as 
far  as  I  can  recollect,  in  any  of  our  libraries." — Mlle. 
Emilie  iNIiCHEL,  in  a  letter  to  the  author. 

Both  Brentano  and  Dryrsen  &  Pfeiffer  (succes- 
sors to  Christern),  as  well  as  W.  R.  Jenkins  Co., 
New  York,  issue  complete  catalogues,  French  and 
German,  in  which  illustrated  books,  magazines,  and 
series  of  special  volumes  are  suggested.  They  differ 
so  markedly  in  prices,  that  no  uniformity  can  be 
reached.  But  except  in  the  case  of  illustrated 
albums,  it  may  be  claimed,  generally,  that  the  prices 
are  reasonable. 

About,  Edmond — Le  Roi  des  Montagues. 
L'Homme  a  I'oreille  Cassee. 

Carraud,  ]Mme. — La  petite  Jeanne.     Bibliotheque 

Rose. 
Daudet,  Alphonse — Tartarin  de  Tarascon. 

Tartarin  sur  les  Alpes. 

Lettres  de  Mon  Moulin.  (Contes.) 

Le  Petit  Chose. 


236  APPENDIX 

DeFoe — La  Vie  et  les  Aventures  de  Robinson 
Crusoe.  Bibliotheque  Rose.  [Vide  also  in  Bibl. 
des  petits  enfants,  with  "Gulliver's  Travels."] 

DoMERE,  Roger — Tante  Rabat  Joie. 

Erckmaxn-Chatrian — Le  consent  de  1813. 
L'Ami  Fritz. 

Fleuriot,  Mlle.  Z. — I^  petit  chef  de  famille. 
Bibliothequt  ilose. 

Florian — Fables  Illustrees  par  Vimar.     Brentano, 

$2.70. 

France,  Anatole — Le  Crime  de   Sylvestre   Bon- 
nard.     [Crowned  by  the  French  Academy.] 
I^  Livre  de  Mon  Ami.     [For  adults.] 

Genlis,  Madame  de — Bibliotheque  Rose.  Contcs 
Moraux.     Vide  p.  66. 

Greville,  Henry  (pseud,  of  Mme.  Alice  Durant) — 
Perdue.     [Vide  entire  list.] 

Grimm — Contes  Choisis.     Bibliotheque  Rose. 

Job — Le  grand  Napoleon  des  Petits  Enfants.  (111. 
coloured.)     Brentano,  $3.00. 

La  Fontaine — Vide  Boutet  de  Monvel.  Picture- 
Book  section. 

La  Motte-Fouque,  Baron  de. — Undine  and  Sin- 
tram.     [Vide  English  version.     Houghton.] 


BOOK-LISTS  237 

Malot,  Hectoii — En  famille. 
Sans  famille. 

Perrault,  Charles;  Mmes.  D'Aulnoy  et  Le 
Prince  de  Beaumont — Contes  de  Fees.  Biblio- 
theque  Rose.  [Vide  also  Petite  Bibliotheque 
Blanche,  et  ed.  Perrault,  ill.  by  many  artists. 
Brentano,  $2.70.     Vide  p.  36.] 

Pressense,  Mme.  E.  de — La  Maison  Blanche  et 
Histoire  pour  les  ecoliers.  Bibliotheoue  Rose. 
[V^ide  also  Bibl.  des  Petits  Enfants.] 

Sandeau,  Jules — La  Maison  de  Penarvan. 

Segur,  Mme.   de — L'Auberge  de  I'Ange-Gardien. 
Bibliotheque  Rose. 
Un  Bon  Petit  Diable. 
Le  General  Dourakine. 
Memoires  d'un  Ane. 
Les  Bons  Enfants. 

Verne,  Jules — Les  Enfants  du  Capitaine  Grant. 
Cinq  Semaines  en  Ballon. 
Vingt  Mille  Lieues  sous  les  Mers. 
Le  Tour  du  Monde  en  80  Jours. 
[All  in  the  Bibliotheque  Rose.] 

Wagner,  Charles — Jeunesse. 
Vaillance. 


238  APPENDIX 

GERMAN 

In  the  preparation  of  the  following  German  list, 
the  author  begs  to  acknowledge  in  a  general  way  his 
indebtedness  to  many  sources.  An  authority  on 
the  subject  is  Wolgast,  who  is  the  author  of  "  Vom 
Kinderbuch"  (Leipzig,  Teubner).  One  of  the 
committee  recommends  the  inclusion  of  all  the  stories 
by  Johanna  Spyri;  another  emphasises  the  im- 
portance of  the  work  done  by  Ottilie  Wildermuth, 
and  appends  the  following  interesting  account  in  a 
letter:  "'She  was  the  wife  of  a  professor  in  Tu- 
bingen, Swabia,  and  was  born  in  1817.  She  died 
in  1877.  Long  before  she  thought  of  writing  for 
publication,  she  charmed  a  wide  circle  of  friends  and 
acquaintances  with  her  talent  for  narrating  the 
simple  events,  memories,  and  experiences  of  Swabian 
life.  Most  of  her  works  must  be  considered,  not  as 
mere  fiction,  but  as  true  pictures  of  the  culture  of 
that  time,  and  as  such  will  be  of  permanent  value.' 
The  same  may  be  said  of  her  children's  books, 
although  these  are  more  fanciful  and  varied  in  their 
subject-matter,  and  appeal  strongly  to  the  imagina- 
tion." 

The  Germans  illustrate  their  A-B-C  Biicher,  their 
Nursery  Rhymes,  their  Bilderbiicher,  and  their 
Erzahlungen  in  the  most  attractive  fashion.  Refer- 
ence is  particularly  made  to  Hcrr  Richter.  Fairy 
Tales  are  read  extensively  by  German  children — 


BOOK-LISTS  239 

and  also  by  adults.  Grimm,  Hauff,  Musaus,  are 
about  the  best.  Schmitt's  Geschichten  u.  Erzah- 
lungen  (of  which  there  are  perhaps  from  one  to  two 
hundred  volumes)  are  excellent  for  boys  and  girls 
between  ten  and  fifteen  years.  The  Germans  have 
paid  such  special  attention  to  the  selection  and 
grading  of  juvenile  literature,  that  their  library  lists 
are  recommended  to  readers.  The  volumes  here 
mentioned  are  not  presented  with  any  intention  of 
making  them  definitive.  Brentano  will  send,  on 
application,  "Verzeichnis  einer  Auswahl  Vorziig- 
licher  Blicher — Miniatur-Katalog. — Stilke,  Berlin." 
The  reader  is  further  referred  to  "Verzeichnis 
empfehlenswerter  Jugendlektiire.  Herausgegeben 
vom  Wiener  Volksbildungs-Verein,  1904." 

AsoF — ^Fabeln.     Mit  6  Buntbildern.     Lowe. 
Aus  DEM  Leben  der  Zwerge — Humorist.     Bilder- 
buch. 

BiLDERBiJcHER.    (Lowensohu.) 

Der    D-Zug   Kommt.    Eisenbahnbilderb.     auf 

Papyrolin;  auf  Papier. 
Fur  unsere  A  B  C-Schlitzen. 
Grimms  Marchen. 
Hansel  und  Gretel. 

Heerschau  lib.  d.  Kriegsvolker  Europas. 
Hertwig,  R.,  Eduard  und  Ferdinand.    [Vide 

Catalogues.] 


240  APPENDIX 

BiLDERBUCHER.       (Scholz.) 
LlEBE  MaRCHEX. 

Dornroschen ;  Marienkind. 
Aschenputtel ;  Rotkappchen. 
Hansel  und  Gretel ;  Schneewittchen. 

Hey-Speckter,    W. — Funfzig    Fabeln    f.    Kinder. 
Jub.-Ausg. 

Noch    funfzig    Fabeln    fiir    Kinder.     Jub.- 
Ausg. 

Fabeln.  2  Bde.  Schul-Ausgabe;  2  Bde.  Feine 
Ausgabe. 

Thumann,  p. — Fiir  Mutter  und  Kind.     Alte  Reime 
mit  neuen  Bildern. 

Wiedemann,    F. — Hundert    Geschichten    fiir    eine 
Mutter  und  ihre  Kinder. 

Wildermuth,  O. — Aus  der  Kinderwelt. 


Anders,  H. — Gesammelte  Marchen  von  Riibezahl. 

Andersen,  H.  C. — Siimtl.  Marchen.  Pr.-A.  (Abel 
&  Muller) ;  V.-Ausg.  (Abel  &  ^Nluller) ;  Pr.-Ausg. 
(Wartig). 

Marchen.   (Hendel);  Lowe;  Billige  Ausgabe. 
(Weise.) 

Ausgewahlte  Marchen.     (Abel    &    Miiller); 
Hrsg.  V.  Hamb.  Jugendschr.-Ausschuss. 


BOOK-LISTS  241 

Arndt,  p. — Es  war  einmal.  Marchen,  Sagen  u. 
Schwanke. 

Im  Marchenwalde. 
Fiir  brave  Knaben. 
Riibezahl.     (Lowe);  V.-Aug,  (Lowe). 

Bechstein,  L. — Marchenbuch.     (Hendel). 

Beeg,  M. — Schulmadelgeschichten. 

Beetz,  K.  O. — Urd. ;  Deutsche  Volksmarchen. 

Bluthgen,  V. — Hesperiden.  Marchen  fiir  Jung 
und  alt.     Vollst.     Ausg. 

Lebensfriihhng.  Vier  Erzahlungen  fiir  Mad- 
chen. 

Der  Marchenquell. 

Der  Weg  zum  Gliick.  Fiinf  Erzahl.  f.  Kna- 
ben. 

Campe,  J.  H. — Robinson  Krusoe  von  J.  Hoffmann. 

EMJvrsr,  Tante — Marchen  fiir  grosse  und  kleine 
Kinder, 

Grimm,  J.  u.  W. — Samtl.  Kinder-  u.  Hausmarchen. 
Mit  Bildern  v.  L.  Richter  usw. 

Gumpert,  Th.  v. — Herzblattchens  Zeitvertreib. 

HaufFjW. — Marchen.   Ausw.  f.  d.  Jugend.  (Lowe). 

HoFFMAXX,  Frz. — Ausgew.  Erzahlungen.  Bd. 
1.2,3. 


242  APPENDIX 

Das  bunte  Buch.     Neue  150  moral.  Erziih- 
lungen. 

150  moralische  Erziihlungen. 
Die  Grossmutter. 
Neuer  deutscher  Jugendfreund. 
Marchen  und  Fabeln. 

MiJLLER,  K.  A. — Riibezahl,  der  Herr  des  Riesenge- 
birges. 

MusAUS,  J.  K.  A. — Marchen.     Von  K.  A.  Miiller. 

NiBELUNGENLiED — Fur  die  Jugend,  von  A.   Bac- 
meister. 

Otto,  H. — Ilias,  fiir  die  Jugend. 

Nibelunge,  fiir  die  Jugend.     2  Bdchn. 
Sagen  und  Marchen  fiir  Achtjiihrige. 

Reichenbach — Buch    der    Tierwelt.     Erzahl.     u. 
Schildergn.  a.  d.  Leben  der  Tiere.     2  Bde. 

Rosegger,  p. — Als  ich  noch  der  Waldbauernbub 
war.     3  Teile. 
Waldferien. 

ScHANZ,  Fr. — Heidefriedel. 

Das  Komtesschen  und  andere  Erziihlungen. 

Rottraut  u.  Use. 

Schulkindergeschichten. 

Bunter  Strauss.     ^lUrchcn   u.  Erziihlungen. 

Unter  der  Tanne. 


BOOK-LISTS  243 

ScHANZ,  P. — In  der  Pension  u.  anderes. 
ScHOTT,  Cl. — Im  Feenreich.     Mit  Bildern. 
Stein,  A. — Mariens  Tagebuch. 

52  Sonntage. 

Tagebuch  dreier  Kinder. 
ViLLA]\LA.RiA. — Elfenreigen.     Nordische  Marchen. 
WiLDERMUTH,  O. — Aus  Nord  und  Slid. 

Aus  Schloss  und  Hiitte. 

Jugendschriften.  V.-A. ;  Inhalt  s.  Abt.  Schrif- 
ten  fiir  die  reifere  weibl.  Jugend. 

Kindergruss. 


Cervantes — Don  Quichote.  Fiir  d.  Jugend  v.  Frz. 
Hoffmann;  fiir  Schule  und  Haus  bearbeitet  von 
Holler.  (Schaffstein).  Illustriert;  Fiir  die  Jugend 
von  P.  Moritz.     V.-Ausg. ;  (Weise). 

Cooper,  J.  F. — Conanchet.     Von  Frz.  Hoffmann. 
Der   rote   Freibeuter.     Von   P.    O.    Hooker. 
(Lowe). 

Lederstrumpf-Erzahlgn.  F.  d.  Jugend  v.  Kl. 
Bernhard;  Fiir  die  Jugend  v.  O.  Hocker.  (Lowe); 
V.  Frz.  Hoffmann;  v.  Fr.  Meister.  Pr.-A. ;  Ein- 
zeln:  Der  Wildtoter;  Der  letzte  der  Mohikaner; 
Der  Pfadfinder;  Lederstrumpf;  Der  alte  Trapper; 
v.  P.  Moritz.  Gesamt-Ausg. ;  Einzeln:  Der 
letzte  Mohikaner;  Der  Pfadfinder;  Lederstrumpf 
od.  die  Ansiedler;  Der  Wildsteller  od.  die  Prarie; 
Der  ^Yildtoter. 


244  APPENDIX 

Die  Prarie.     Fiir  die  Jugend.     (Weise.) 
Der  Spion.     Fiir  die  Jugend  von  E.  Benseler 

Dahn,  F.  u.  Th. — Walhall.     Germanische  Gotter- 
u.   Heldensagen.     Ausgabe  mit  Bildern. 

Hauff,      W. — Lichtenstein.       Fiir     die      Jugend. 
(Weise.) 

LiLiENCRON,     D.  V. — Gedichte.     Auswahl  fiir  die 
Jugend. 


Ebner-Eschenbach,  M.  v. — Die  arme  Kleine. 

GuMPERT,  Th.  v. — Tochter-Album. 

Hartner,  E.  (E.  E.  H.  v.  Twardowska.) — Pension 
und  Elternhaus. 

Heinz,  T.  v.  (Henny  von  Tempelhoff.) — Goldkopf- 
chen. 

Pension  Velden. 
Tante  Sybille. 

Heldern,  T.  (Toni  Lindner.) — Die  Baclvfisch- 
pension. 

RiiODEX,  E.  V.  (Emma  Friedrich-Friedrich.) — D(  r 
Trotzkopf.     M'lt  Bildern;   Billige  Ausgabe. 

Trotzkopfs  Brautzeit.  Mit  Bildern;  Bil- 
lige Ausgabe. 

(Wildhagen),  Aus  Trotzkopfs  Ehe.  Mit  Bil- 
dern; Billige  Ausgabe. 


BOOK-LISTS  245 

(S.  la  Chapelle-Roobol),  Trotzkopf  als  Gross- 
mutter. 

Der  Trotzkopf.  3  Bde.  Feine  Ausg.  in  hell. 
Damastlnw.  geb.,  in  eleg.  Hiilse. 

RosEGGER,    P. — Ernst    u.     heiter.     Volksausg.     f. 
Osterreich. 

Schmidt,  H. — In  Backfischchens  Kaffeekranzchen. 

WiLDERMUTH,    O. — Jugendschriften.     Volks-Ausg. 
22  Bde. 

1.  Ein  einsam  Kind.  Die  Wasser  im  Jahre 
1824;  2.  Drei  Schulkameraden.  Der  Spiegel  der 
Zwerglein;  3.  Eine  seltsame  Schule.  Barbeles 
Weihnachten ;  4.  Eine  Konigin.  Der  Kinder 
Gebet;  5.  Spates  Gluck.  Die  drei  Schwestern 
vom  Walde;  6.  Die  Ferien  auf  Schloss  Baren- 
sprung.  Der  Sandbub  oder  Wer  hat's  am  besten  ? 
7.  Cherubino  u.  Zephirine.  Kann  sein,  's  ist  auch 
sorecht;  8.  Briiderchen  und  Schwesterchen.  Der 
Einsiedler  im  Walde;  9.  Der  Peterli  von  Emmen- 
thal.  Zwei  Miirchen  f iir  die  Kleinsten ;  10.  Krieg 
und  Frieden.  Emmas  Pilgerf ahrt ;  11.  Das 
braune  Lenchen.  Des  Konigs  Patenkind;  12. 
Nach  Regen  Sonnenschein.  Frau  Luna.  Das 
Biiumlein  im  Walde;  13.  Die  Nachbarskinder. 
Kordulas  erste  Reise.  Balthasars  Apfelbaume; 
14.  Die  wunderbare  Hohle.  Das  Steinkreuz. 
Unsere  alte  Marie;  15.  Der  klugc  Bruno.  Eine 
alte  Schuld.     Heb'  auf,  was  Gott  dir  vor  die  Tiire 


246  APPENDIX 

legt;16.  Elisabeth.  Die  drei  Christbaume.  Kliir- 
chens  Genesung.  Das  Feental;  17.  Vom  armcii 
Unstern;  18.  Es  ging  cin  Engcl  durch  das  Ilaus. 
Des  Herrn  Pfarrers  Kuh.  Die  erste  Sccfahrt; 
19.  Schwarze  Trcue ;  20.  Das  Osterlied.  Die  Kin- 
der der  Heide;  21.  Hinauf  und  Hinab;  22.  Der 
rote  Hof. 

NATURE 

Arnold,  A.  F. — The  Sea-Beach  at  Ebb-Tide.  Cen- 
tury, $2,40  net. 

BosTOCK,  F.  C. — The  Tl-aining  of  Wild  Animals. 
Century,  $1.00  net. 

Burroughs,  John — Squirrels  and  Other  Fur-Bear- 
ers.    (111.  after  Audubon.)     Houghton,  $1.00. 
Wake.  Robin.     Houghton,  $1.00  net. 

Chapman,  Frank  R. — Bird-Life:  A  Guide  to  tlie 
Study  of  Our  Common  Birds.  (111.,  Seton.) 
Appleton,  $2.00. 

DouBLEDAY,  Mrs.  F.  N.  (pseud.,  Neltje  Blanchan) — 
Bird  Neighbors.  Doubleday,  $2.00.  [American 
and  local.  Vide  same  author's  "  Birds  that  Hunt 
and  Arc  Hunted,"  $2.00.] 

Nature's  Garden.     Doubleday,  $3 .  00  net. 

DuGMORi^  A.  Radclyffe — Nature  and  the  Camera. 
Doubleday,  $1 .35  net. 


BOOK-LISTS  247 

Gibson,  W.  H. — Blossom  Hosts  and  Insect  Guests. 
Newson,  $0.80. 

Eye  Spy.     Harper,  $2.50. 
Sharp  Eyes.     Harper,  $2.50. 

Holland,  W.  J. — Butterfly  Book.  Doubleday, 
$3.00  net.  [Vide  same  author's  " Moth  Book," 
$4.00  net] 

HoRNADAY,  William  T. — American  Natural  His- 
tory. Scribner,  $3.50  net.  [Vide  same  author's 
"Two  Years  in  a  Jungle,"  $2.50.] 

Keeler,  Harriet  L. — Our  Native  Trees  and  How 
to  Identify  Them.  Scribner,  $2.00  net.  [Vide 
also  the  "  Tree  Book."  Julia  E.  Rogers.  Double- 
day,  $4.00  net.] 

Miller,  Olive  Thorne — The  First  Book  of  Birds. 
Houghton,  $1.00.     [There  is  a  second  book.] 

MoRLEY,  Margaret  W. — The  Bee  People.  Mc- 
Clurg,  $1.25. 

Parsons,  Frances  Theodora  (formerly  Mrs. 
Dana) — How  to  Know  Wild  Flowers.  Scribner, 
$2 .  00  net.  [Vide  also  same  author's  "  According 
to  the  Seasons."     Scribner,  $1 .  75  net.] 

Seton,  Ernest  Thompson — Biography  of  a  Griz- 
zly.    Century,  $1.50. 

Wild  Animals  I  have  Known.  Scribner, 
$2 .  00.  [Vide  also  same  author's  "  Lives  of  the 
Hunted."] 


248  APPENDIX    . 

Shaler,  Nathaniel  S. — Story  of  the  Continent. 
Ginn,  $0.75. 

First  Book  in  Geology.     Heath,  $0.60. 

Sharp,  Dallas  L. — Wild  Life  Near  Home.  Cen- 
tury, $2 .  GO.  [Vide  also  same  author's  "  A  Watcher 
in  the  Woods."     Century,  $0 .  84.  | 

Thoreau,  Henry  D. — Walden.  Houghton,  $1.50 
to  $3.00. 

Torrey,  Bradford*— Every-day  Birds.  (111.  after 
Thoreau.)     Houghton,  $1 .00. 

Wright,  Mabel  Osgood — Citizen  Bird.  Mac- 
millan,  $1 .  50  net. 

BIOGRAPHY 

Abbott^  J.  S.  C. — Daniel  Boone,  and  the  Early 
Settlement  of  Kentucky.     Dodd,  $0.75. 

David  Crockett  and  Early  Texan  History. 
Dodd,  $0.75. 

Kit  Carson,  the  Pioneer  of  the  Far  West. 
Dodd,  $0.75. 

Alcott,  Louisa  May — Life,  Letters,  and  Journals. 
(Ed.,  E.  D.  Cheney.)     Little,  Brown,  $1.50. 

Barnes,  James — Midshipman  Farragut.  Apple  ton, 
$1.00. 

Bolton,  Mrs.  S.  K. — Poor  Boys  Who  Became 
Famous.     Crowell,     $1.50.     [This     author    has 


BOOK-LISTS  249 

written  many  books  of  a  similar  character  for 
boys  and  girls.] 

Brooks,  E.  S.— Historic  Boys.     Putnam,  $1.25. 

Historic  Girls.  Putnam,  $1.25.  [Same 
author  wrote  "Historic  Dwarfs"  for  St.  Nicholas 
Magazine.     His  facts  have  been  challenged.] 

Chivalric  Days.     Putnam,  $1.25. 

BuTTERwoRTH,  Hezekiah — The  Boys  of  Greenway 
Court.  [The  Eariy  Days  of  Washington.  Many 
librarians  would  challenge  this.]  Appleton, 
$1.50. 

Franklin,  Benjamin — Autobiography.  Houghton, 
$0.75. 

Garland,  Hamlin — Ulysses  S.  Grant.  McClure, 
$2.50. 

Joan  of  Arc — Vide  Boutet  de  Monvel.  [Picture- 
book  section.] 

Keller,  Helen — The  Story  of  My  Life.  Double- 
day,  $1 .  50  net. 

Lee,  Robert  E. — Vide  Beacon  Biographies.  Trent, 
W.  P.  [The  Lives  of  Lee,  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  and 
Stonewall  Jackson  have  yet  to  be  treated  satis- 
factorily for  young  people.] 

Nicolay,  Helen — Boys'  Life  of  Lincoln.  Century, 
$1.50. 


250  APPENDIX 

Ober,  Frederick  A. — Columbus;  Pizarro;  DcSoto. 
Harper,  $1 .  00  net  each.  [This  author's  style  is 
picturesque.] 

Riis,  Jacob  A. — The  Making  of  an  American:  An 
Autobiography.     Macmillan,  $1 .  50  net. 

ScuDDER,  Horace E. — George  Washington.  Hough- 
ton, $0 .  75.  [Vide  also  E.  E.  Hale's  "  Life  of  Wash- 
ington."    Putnam,  $1.75.] 

Seawell,  M.  E. — Decatur  and  Somers.  Appleton, 
$1.00. 

Twelve  Naval  Captains.     Scribner,  $1 .  25. 
Paul  Jones.     Appleton,  $1 .  00. 

Seelye,  Elizabeth  E. — The  Story  of  Columbus. 
Appleton,  $1 .  75. 

SouTHEY,  Robert — Life  of  Nelson.  [Vide  ed.,  Mac- 
millan, Warne,  Crowell,  Dutton,    Lothrop,  etc.] 

Wister,  Owen — U.  S.  Grant.  (Beacon  Biography.) 
Small,  $0.75  net.  [This  is  the  same  series  as 
referred  to  under  Lee,  in  which  Norman  Hapgood 
has  written  on  Daniel  Webster.] 

HISTORY 

Alton,  E.  (pseud,  of  Edmund  Bailey) — Among  the 
Law  Makers.     Scribner,  $1 .  50. 

Barnes,  James — Yankee  Ships  and  Yankee  Sailors. 
Macmillan,  $1 .50. 


BOOK-LISTS  251 

Callcott,  M.  (D.) — Little  Arthur's  History  of  Eng- 
land.    Crowell,  $0.60. 

Little  Arthur's  History  of  France.  Crowcll, 
$0 .  60.  [Both  volumes  have  a  certain  value  in  the 
history  of  children's  books.] 

Coffin,  C.  C— Boys  of  '76.  Harper,  $2.00.  [Same 
author  wrote  "  Boys  of  '61 ."     Estes,  $2 .  00.  ] 

Creasy,  E.  S. — Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the  World. 
Harper,  $1.00. 

Dickens,  Charles — Child's  History  of  England. 
Houghton,  $1 .00  to  $2.50. 

Dole,  C.  F.— The  Young  Citizen.     Heath,  $0.45. 

Eggleston,  E.  and  Seelye  (Mrs.),  E.  E. — Brant 
and  Red  Jacket.     Dodd,  $0 .  75. 

Fiske,  John — He  has  written  a  United  States  His- 
tory. (Houghton.)  His  larger  contributions  on 
periods  are  so  excellent  in  their  narrative  style  as  to 
recommend  themselves  for  young  readers  of  high- 
school  age.  [Vide  also  Edward  Eggleston's 
"Household  History  of  the  United  States."  Ap- 
pleton,  $2.50.] 

Griffis,  W.  E. — Brave  Little  Holland  and  Wliat 
She  Taught  Us.     Houghton,  $1 .25. 

Greenwood,  Grace — Merrie  England;  Bonnie 
Scotland.  [Out  of  print,  but  re-publication  strong- 
ly advised  by  librarians.     Miss  Burnite,  of  the 


252  APPENDIX 

Cleveland    Public  Library,  recently    edited    the 
"  Ballads  Retold."     Ginn,  $0 .  50.] 

Stories  and  Legends;    Stories  and  Sights  of 
France  and  Italy.     [Also  out  of  print.] 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel — Grandfather's  Chair. 
Containing  also  Biographical  Stories.  Houghton, 
$1.25. 

Jenks,  Tudor — Our  Army  for  Our  Boys.  (111. 
Ogden.)  Moffat,  Yard,  $2.00  net.  [Mr.  Jenks 
is  also  the  author  of  the  lives  of  John  Smith  and 
Miles  Standish  (Century) ;  of  a  series  of  historical 
and  social  studies  for  children,  the  first  volume 
called"  When  America  Was  New"  (Crowcll.);  and 
of  another  series,  Lives  of  Great  Writers  (Barnes.). 

KiEFFER,  H.  M. — Recollections  of  a  Drummer 
Boy.  (A  Civil  War  biographical  story.)  Hough- 
ton, $1.50. 

Marshall,  Helen — An  Island  Story.  [A  history  of 
England,  written  by  an  Australian.  The  book  is 
in  sumptuous  format.]     Stokes,  $2.50  net. 

McDougall,  Isabel — Little  Royalties.  Revcll, 
$1.25. 

Parkman,  Francls — The  Oregon  Trail.  (III., 
Remington.)     Little,  Brown,  $4.00;  $2.00. 

The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac.   (2  vols.)    Little, 
Brown,  $3.00. 


BOOK-LISTS  253 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  and  Lodge,  Henry  Cabot 
— Hero  Tales  from  American  History.  Century, 
$1.50. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter — Tales  of  a  Grandfather. 
Macmillan,  $2.00. 

Stockton,  Frank  R. — Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of 
our  Coast.     Macmillan,  $1 .  50. 

Taebell,  Ida  M. — ^He  Knew  Lincoln.  McClure, 
$0.50  net. 

Yonge,  Charlotte  M. — ^Young  Folk's  History  of 
England.  Lothrop,  $1 .50.  [Fic^e  Miss  Yonge's 
"  Book  of  Golden  Deeds."    Macmillan,  $1 .  00.] 

HISTORICAL  STORIES 

Aguilar,  Grace — The  Days  of  Bruce.  Appleton, 
$1.00.  [She  also  wrote  "A  Mother's  Recom- 
pense" and  "Home  Influence."] 

Andrews,  Mary  Raymond  Shipman — The  Per- 
fect Tribute.  (A  Story  of  Lincoln.)  Scribner, 
$0.50. 

Barnes,  James — For  King  or  Country.  Harper, 
$1.50. 

Bennett,    John — Master    Skylark.     (A    Story    of 
Shakespeare's  Time.)     Century,  $1 .50. 
Barnaby  Lee.     Century,  $1 .  50. 


254  APPENDIX 

Bulwer-Lytton,  Edward — Harold,  the  Last  of  the 
Saxons.     (2  vols.)     Little,  Brown,  $1 .25  each. 

Last  Days  of  Pompeii.     Little,  Brown,  $1 .  25. 

Last  of  the  Barons.  (A  Story  of  the  Earl 
of  Warwick.)  [2  vols.]  Little,  Brown,  $1.25 
each. 

Davis,  M.  E.  M.— In  War  Times  at  La  Rose 
Blanche.     Lothrop,  $1 .  25. 

Doyle,  A.  Conan — White  Company.  (A  14th-cen- 
tury story.)     Harper,     $1.75. 

Micah  Clarke.  (A  17th-century  story.) 
Harper,  $1 .  75. 

Eggleston,  George  Cary — Signal  Boys.  Put- 
nam, $1 .25. 

Southern  Soldier  Stories.     Macmillan,  $1 .50. 

Strange  Stories  from  History.  Harper, 
$0.60. 

Hale,  Edward  E. — A  Man  Without  a  Country. 
Little,  Brown,  $0.50  to  $1.25. 

Henty,  G.  a. — Lion  of  the  North.  (A  Tale  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus.)     Scribncr,  $1.50. 

St.  George  for  England.  (A  Talc  of  Cressy 
and  Poitiers.)     Scribncr,  $1.50. 

With  Clive  in  India.     Scribncr,  $1  .50. 

With  Wolfe  in  Canada.  Scnbn(>r,  $1.50. 
[When  one  is  read,  the  formula  for  all  is  discovered.] 


BOOK-LISTS  255 

Keary,  Annie — A  York  and  Lancaster  Rose.  Mac- 
millan,  $1 .  00. 

KiNGSLEY,  Charles — Westward  Ho!  Macmillan, 
$0.50  to  $2.00.  [This  book,  a  tale  of  the  16th 
century,  was  recently  debarred  from  one  of  the 
library  centres  in  England.] 

Knapp,  Adeline — The  Boy  and  the  Baron.  (Ger- 
many of  feudal  times.)     Century,  $1 .00. 

Marshall,  Beatrice — The  Siege  of  York.  (In 
the  days  of  Thomas,  Lord  Fairfax.)  Dutton, 
$1 .  50.     [For  older  girls.] 

Matthews,  Brander — Tom  Paulding.  (A  story 
of  New  York  and  a  treasure.)     Century,  $1.50. 

Page,  Thomas  Nelson — Two  little  Confederates. 
Scribner,  $1.50. 

Among  the  Camps.     Scribner,  $1 .  50. 

Porter,  Jane — The  Scottish  Chiefs.  Dutton,  $2.50. 
(111. ,  T.  H.  Robinson.  A  Story  of  William  Wallace. 
Miss  Aguilar's  book,  "In  the  Days  of  Bruce,"  is 
considered  a  sequel.) 

Thaddeus    of    Warsaw.     [Various    editions: 
Coates,  Burt,  Routledge,  Warne.] 

Pyle,  Howard — Men  of  Iron.  (A  14th-century 
story.)     Harper,  $2.00. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter — Ivanhoe.     Macmillan,  $1.25. 
The  Talisman.     Macmillan,  $1 .  25. 


256  APPENDIX 

Quentin  Durward.     Macmillan,  $1.25. 

Rob  Roy.     Macmillan,  $1.25.     [As  an  in- 
troduction, these  should  lead  the  way  to  others.] 

Seawell,  M.  E. — Little  Jarvis.     Appleton,  $1 .  00. 

Stowe,  Harriet  B. — Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  Hough- 
ton, $1.00.  (111.,  Kemble,  $4.00.)  [This  is  reluct- 
antly included;  many  are  strongly  in  favor  of 
keeping  from  children  such  partisan  writing;  the 
cause  for  sectional  feeling  has  been  removed  to  an 
extent.} 

ToMLiNsoN,  E.  T.— Boy  Officers  of  1812.  Lothrop, 
Lee,  $1.25. 

Search    for   Andrew    Field.     Lothrop,    Lee, 
$1.25. 

Twain,  Mark  fpseud.  of  Samuel  L.  Clemens) — The 
Prince  and  the  Pauper.  (16th  century.)  Harper, 
$1 .  75. 

Wallace,  Lew — Ben  Hur.  (A  Tale  of  the  Christ.) 
Harper,  $1.50  to  $10.00. 

YoNGE,  Charlotte  M. — The  Lances  of  Lynwood, 
Lothrop,  I^e,  $1.00.  [Miss  Yonge  on  children's 
reading  is  seen  to  great  advantage.] 


BOOK-LISTS  «57 

INDIAN  STORIES 

Baylor,  Frances  C.  Olrs.  F.  C.  [B.]  Belger.)— 
Juan  and  Juanita.     Houghton,  $1 .  50. 

Brooks,  Noah — The  Boy  Emigrants.  Scribner, 
$1.25. 

The  Boy  Settlers.  (Early  times  in  Kansas.) 
Scribner,  $1.25. 

Catherwood,  Mary  Hartwell — Heroes  of  the 
Middle  West.     Ginn,  $0.50. 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore — Deerslayer.  Hough- 
ton, $1.00. 

The  Spy.  Houghton,  $1.00;  Appleton, 
$1 .  50.  [The  entire  Leatherstocking  series  should 
be  read.] 

The  Last  of  the  Mohicans.  Houghton, 
$1.00. 

Custer,  Mrs.  E.  B. — Boots  and  Saddles.  Harper, 
$1 .  50.  [An  account  of  life  in  camp  out  West,  and 
of  her  husband's  career.  Campaigns  against  the 
Indians  are  described.  A  second  book  is  called 
"  Tenting  on  the  Plains."     Harper,  $1 .  50.] 

Deming,  E.  W.  —Little  Indian-Folk.     Stokes,  $1 .  25. 
Little    Red    People.     Stokes,    $1.25.     [Vide 
the  same  author's  "  Indian  Child  Life."     Stokes, 
$2.00.] 


258  APPENDIX 

Drake,  F.  S, — Indian  History  for  Young  Folks. 
Harper,  $3.00. 

Eastman,  Charles  A. — Indian  Boyhood.  Mc- 
Clure,  $1 .  60  net. 

MuNROE,  Kirk — The  Flamingo  Feather.  (A  tale 
of  Huguenots  and  Spaniards.)     Harper,  $0 .  60. 

Stoddard,  W.  O. — Little  Smoke.  (A  tale  of  the 
Sioux.)     Appleton,  $1 .  50. 

Red  Mustang.     Harper,  $0.60. 
Two  Arrows.     Harper,  $0.60. 

STORIES 

Abbot,  Alice  Balch — A  Frigate's  Namesake. 
Century,  $1.00. 

Alcott,  IvOuisa  May — Eight  Cousins.  Little, 
Brown,  $1.50. 

Little  Women.     Ibid. 

Little  Men.     Ibid. 

Old  Fashioned  Girl.     Ibid. 

Alden,  W.  L. — Cruise  of  the  Canoe  Club.  Harper, 
$0.60. 

Andrews,  Jane — The  Seven  Little  Sisters  who 
Lived  on  the  Round  Ball  That  Floats  in  the  Air. 
Lothrop,  lx?e,  $1.00. 

Ten  Boys  who  Lived  on  the  Road  from  Long 
Ago  to  Now.     Lothrop,  Ivce,  $1 .  00. 


BOOK-LISTS  259 

Barbour,  Ralph — The  Crimson  Sweater.  Cen- 
tury, $1 .  50.  [The  same  author  wrote  "  Captain 
of  the  Crew";  "For  the  Honor  of  the  School."] 

Barrie,  James  M. — Peter  Pan.  (111.,  Arthur 
Rackham.)     Scribner,  $5 .  00. 

Blackmore,  R.  D. — Lorna  Doone.  [For  older 
readers.]     Harper,  $2.00. 

Burnett,  F.  H. — Little  Lord  Fauntleroy.  Scrib- 
ner, $1.25. 

The    Little    Princess.     [An  enlarged  "Sara 
Crew."]     Scribner,  $2 . 00. 

Champney,  E.  W.— Howling  Wolf.     Lothrop,  $1.25. 
Pierre  and  his  Poodle.    Dodd,  $1 .  00. 
Paddy  O'Leary  and  his  Learned  Pig.     Dodd, 
$1.00. 

CooLiDGE,  Susan  (pseud.,  S.  C.  Woolsey.) — Eye- 
bright.     Little,  Brown,  $1 .  25. 

Dana,  Richard  H.,  Jr. — Two  Years  Before  the 
Mast.     Houghton,  $1 .  00. 

De  Amicis,  Edmondo — Cuore:  an  Itahan  School- 
boy's Journal.     Crowell,  $1 .  00. 

DeFoe,  Daniel — Robinson  Crusoe.  (111.,  Rheid 
Brothers.)     Russell,  Harper,  $1.50. 

Dickens,  Charles — David  Copperfield.  Hough- 
ton, 2  vols.,  $3.00. 


260  APPENDIX 

Tale  of  Two  Cities.  Houghton,  $1.50. 
[Vide  also  "  Christmas  Carol."  These  should  en- 
courage the  children  to  follow  up  one  work  with 
another.] 

Dodge,  Mart  Mapes — Donald  and  Dorothy.  Cen- 
tury, $1 .50.      [Vide  her  "  Baby-Days."] 

Hans  Brinker,  or  the  Silver  Skates.  (New 
Amsterdam  edition.)     Scribner,  $1 .  50. 

Duncan,  Norman — Adventures  of  Billy  Topsail. 
Revell,  $1 .  50.  [This  is  a  good  example  of  an 
adventurous  story,  well  told.] 

Edgewokth,  Maria — Waste  Not,  Want  Not. 
Heath,  $0.20. 

Popular  Tales.     Macmillan,  $1 .  50. 

Talcs.    (Ed.,  Austin  Dobson.)    Stokes,  $1.50. 

Early  Lessons.  Routledge,  $1.00.  [The 
Macmillans  also  publish  "Moral  Tales,"  $1.00; 
Routledge,  "Parent's  Assistant,"  $1.00.] 

Eggleston,  George  Cary — Big  Brother.  Put- 
nam, $1 .25. 

Captain  Sam.     Putnam,  $1.25. 

Ewing,  Mrs.  J.  H. — Jackanapes.  Little,  Brown, 
$0.50;   Crowell,  $0.60. 

Story  of  a  Short  Life.  Dutton,  $1.00; 
Crowell,  $0.75. 

Timothy  Shoes.    [Short  story.] 

The  Brownies.     Young,  $1 .00;  Burt,  $0.75. 


BOOK-LISTS  261 

Fairstar.Mrs.  (pseud,  of  Richard Hengist Home). — 
Memoirs  of  a  London  Doll.     Brentano,  $1.25. 

Fletcher,  R.  H. — Marjory  and  Her  Papa.  Cen- 
tury, $1.00. 

French,  Allen — The  Junior  Cup.  Century,  $1.50. 
[Vide  the  same  author's  excellent  legendary-his- 
torical tale,  "Sir  Marrok."     Century,  $1.00.] 

Gaskell,  E.  C.  (S.) — Cranford.  (For  older  read- 
ers.)    Macmillan,  $1.50. 

Gates,  Eleanor  (Mrs.  Richard  Walton  Tully.) — 
Biography  of  a  Prairie  Girl.     Century,  $1.50. 

GiLSON,  Roy  Rolfe — Katrina.  (For  older  readers.) 
Baker  and  Taylor,  $1 .50. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver — The  Vicar  of  Wakefield. 
[111.,  Hugh  Thomson.  Vide  also  Caldecott.] 
Macmillan,  $1.50. 

Goody  Two  Shoes.     (Ed.,  Welsh.)     Heath, 
$0.20.     [Vide  also  edition,  Macmillan.] 

GouLDiNG,  Frank — The  Young  Marooners.  Dodd. 
No  price  stated.  [There  is  a  companion  volume, 
"Marooner's  Island."  This  Southern  writer  is 
little  known.] 

Hale,  Lucretia  P. — The  Peterkin  Papers.  Hough- 
ton, $1.50.  [There  is  another  volume,  "The 
Last  of  the  Peterkins,  with  Others  of  Their  Kin."] 


262  APPENDIX 

Harker,  L.  Allen — Concerning  Paul  and  Fiametta. 
Scribner,  $1.25.  [This  book  is  delightfully  hu- 
man; some  would  consider  it  more  a  story  about 
children  than  for  children.] 

HiGGiNSON,  Thomas  W. — Tales  of  the  Enchanted 
Islands  of  the  Atlantic.     Macmillan,  $1 .  50. 

Hill,  C.  T. — Fighting  a  Fire.  [Stories  of  real  life.] 
Centuiy,  $1.50. 

Hughes,  Rupert — The  Lakerim  Athletic  Club. 
Century,  $1.50. 

The  Dozen  from  Lakerim.     Century,  $1 .50. 

Hughes,  Thomas — Tom  Brown's  School  Days  at 
Rugby.  Macmillan,  $1.50;  Houghton,  $1.00. 
[For  older  readers,  there  is  "Tom  Brown  at  Ox- 
ford."] 

Irving,  Washington — Bracebridge  Hall.  (111., 
Caldecott.)     Macmillan,  $1 .50. 

Old  Christmas.  (111.,  Caldecott.)  Macmil- 
lan, $1.50. 

Jackson,  Helen  Hunt — Ramona.  Little,  Brown, 
$1.50. 

Nelly's  Silver  Mine.  (A  Story  of  Colorado 
life.)     Little,  Brown,  $1.50. 

Cat  Stories.     Little,  Brown,  $2.00. 

Jamison,  ]Mrs.  C.  V. — Lady  Jane.     Century,  $1 .  50. 
Toinctte's     Philip.      Century-,     $1.50.     [De- 
scriptions of  early  New-Orleans  life.] 


BOOK-LISTS  263 

Jewett,  Sarah  Orne — Betty  Leicester.  Hough- 
ton, $1.25. 

Johnson,  Rossiter — Phaeton  Rogers.  Scribner, 
$1.50. 

King,  Capt.  Charles — Cadet  Days.  Harper, 
$1.25. 

Kipling,  Rudyard — "Captains  Courageous."  (A 
tale  of  the  Gloucester  fishermen.)     Century,  $1.50. 

Lamb,  Charles  and  Mary — Mrs.  Leicester's 
School.  Dent  (ill.,  Winifred  Green,  in  Kate 
Greenaway  style);  Macmillan,  $2.25. 

La  Ramee,  Louise  de  (Ouida) — Dog  of  Flanders. 
Lippincott,  $1.50. 

Lucas,  E.  V.  (Ed.)— Old-Fashioned  Tales.  Stokes, 
$1.50. 

(Ed.)    Forgotten  Tales  of  Long  Ago.    Stokes, 
$1.50. 

Marryatt,  Frederick — Masterman  Ready.  Mac- 
millan, $1.50;  Routlcdge,  $1.25.  [Some  libra- 
rians would  reject  Marryatt  as  they  would  Ballen- 
tyne;  others  would  include  him  as  they  would 
Ballentyne.] 

Martineau,  Harriet — The  Crofton  Boys.  Rout- 
ledge,  $0.75;  Heath,  $0.30. 

Mathews,  ISIargaret  H. — Dr.  Gilbert's  Daughters. 
Coatcs,  $0.75. 


264  APPENDIX 

MoFFETT,  Cleveland — Careers  of  Danger  and 
Daring.     [Stories  of  real  life.]     Century,  $1 .50. 

MoLEswoRTH,  Mrs. — Two  Little  Waifs.  Mac- 
millan,  $1.00. 

Carrots.     Maemillan,  $1.50;  Crowell,  $0 .  75. 

Mltnroe,  Kirk — Cab  and  Caboose.  Tale  published 
in  St.  Nicholas. 

Derrick  Sterling.     Harper,  $0.60. 

Myrtle,  Harriet — Country  Scenes. 

Man  of  Snow.    [Out  of  print,  but  re-publica- 
tion strongly  advised  by  librarians.] 

Ollivant,  Alfred — Bob,  Son  of  Battle.  Double- 
day,  $1 .50.  [Strongly  recommended  for  its  vigour 
and  its  vividness.] 

Otis,  James  (pseud,  of  J.  O.  Kaler) — Toby  Tyler; 

or.  Ten  Weeks  with  a  Circus.     Harper,  $0.60. 

Mr.  Stubbs's  Brother.     Harper,  $0 .  60. 

Paull,  Mrs.  H.  B.— Only  a  Cat.  Whitaker,  $1 .  25. 
[An  excellent  story.] 

Pier,  Arthur  S. — Boys  of  St.  Timothy's.  Hough- 
ton, $1.50. 

Pyle,  Howard — Jack  Ballister's  Fortunes.  Cen- 
tury, $2.00. 

Richards.  Laura  E. — Captain  January.  Estcs, 
$0.50. 


BOOK-LISTS  265 

Sandford,  Mrs.  D.  P. — The  Little  Brown  House 
and  the  Children  who  Lived  in  It.    Dutton,  $2 .  00. 

Saunders,  Marshall — Beautiful  Joe.     Am.  Bap., 
$0.25. 

Scudder,  Horace  E. — Bodley  Books.     Houghton, 
8  vols.,  $12.00  set;  $1.50  each. 

The    Children's    Book.     (Edited.)     Hough- 
ton, $2.50. 

SEGLTi,  Mme.  S.  (R.)  de — The  Story  of  a  Donkey. 
Heath,  $0.20. 

Sewell,  Anna — Black  Beauty.     Page,  $1.25. 

Sharp,    Evelyn — The   Youngest   Girl   in   School. 
Macmillan,  $1.50. 

Sherwood,  M.   INI.    (B.)— The  Fairchild  Family. 
Stokes,  $1 .  50.     [Recommended  for  historic  value.] 

Shaw,  F.  L.— Castle  Blair.     Little,  Brown,  $1.00. 

Spyri,  J.— Story  of  Heidi.  De  Wolfe  Fiske,  $1.50; 
Ginn,  $0.40. 

Stevenson,     Robert     Louis — Treasure     Island. 
Scribner,  $1.00.     ["Kidnapped"  is  a  sequel.] 

Black  Arrow.     Scribner,  $1.00.       [A  good 
"  penny-dreadful."] 

Stockton,  Frank  R. — ^A  Jolly  Fellowship.    Scrib- 
ner, $1.50. 


266  APPENDIX 

Stuart,  Ruth  McEnery — The  Story  of  Babette. 
Harper,  $1.50.  [Vide  the  same  author's  "Solo- 
mon Crow's  Christmas  Pocket."  Harper,  $1.25.] 

Taggart,  Marion  Ames — The  Little  Gray  House. 
McClure,  $1.25.  [The  author  has  unfortunately 
been  persuaded  to  continue  her  story  in  a  second 
volume.] 

Trimmer,  Sarah  K. — History  of  the  Robins. 
Heath,  $0.25.     [Historic  interest.] 

Trowbridge,  John  T. — The  Tinkham  Brothers* 
Tide-:Nrill.     Lothrop,  Ix^e,  $1 .25. 

His  Own  Master.     Lothrop,  Lee,  $1.25. 

Jack  Hazard  and  His  Fortunes.  Coates, 
$1 .25.     (In  a  series.) 

Tw^ain,   Mark  (pseud,   of  Samuel  L.  Clemens.) — 
Huckleberry  Finn.     Harper,  $1.75. 
Tom  Sawder.     Ilai-pcr,  $1 .  75. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry — The  First  Christmas  Tree. 
(111.,  Pyle.)     Scribner,  $1.50. 

The  Story  of  the  Other  Wise  Man.  Harper, 
$1.00. 

Verne,  Jules — A  Tour  of  the  World  in  Eighty 
Days.     [Fi(f<;  various  editions.] 

Twenty  Thousand  I^eagues  under  the  Sea. 
Coates,  $0.75.     [Vide  various  editions.] 

WiGGiN,  Kate  Douglas — Half  a  Dozen  House 
Keepers.     Altemus,  $0.75. 


BOOK-LISTS  267 

Rebecca  of  Sunnybrook  Farm.  Houghton, 
$1.25. 

The  Bird's  Christmas  Carol.  Houghton, 
$0.50. 

Timothy's  Quest.  (111.,  OHver  Herford.) 
Houghton,  $1.50. 

Polly  Oliver's  Problem.     Houghton,  $1.00. 

WySS,    J.    R.  V.    AND    MONTOLIEU,    BaRONNE   DE — 

Swiss  Family  Robinson.     Wame,  $2.50;  Dutton, 
$2.50.     [Cheaper  editions.] 

BOOKS  ABOUT  CHILDREN 

Aldrich,  Thomas  Bailey — Story  of  a  Bad  Boy. 

(111.,  Frost.)     Houghton,  $2.00;    $1.25. 
Egglestox,    Edward — The    Hoosier    School-Boy. 

Scribner,  $1.00. 
EwALD,  Carl  (Tr.,  DeMattos.)— My  Little  Boy. 

Scribner,  $1.00. 
GiLSON,  Roy  Rolfe — Mother  and  Father.     Harper, 

$1.25. 
HowELLs,  William  Dean — A  Boy's  Town.     (Told 

for  Harpers  Young  People.)     Harper,  $1.25. 
HuTTON,  Laurence — A  Boy  I  knew  and  Four  Dogs. 

Harper,  $1 .25. 
Larcom,  Lucy — New  England  Girlhood.     Hough- 
ton, $0.75.     [Vide  various  editions.] 


268  APPENDIX 

Martin,  Edward  S. — The  Luxury  of  Children. 
Harper,  $1 .  75  net. 

Richards,  Laura  E. — When  I  Was  Your  Age. 
Estes,  $1.25. 

Warxer,  Charles  Dudley — Being  a  Boy.  Hough- 
ton, $1.25. 

Whittier,  John  G.  (Ed.) — Child-Life  in  Prose. 
Houghton,  $2.00. 

ETHICS  AND  RELIGION 

Bible   for   Young   People     (Ed.,    Mrs.    Joseph 

Gilder;     Bishop   Potter.) — Century,    $1.50;    ed. 

de  luxe,  $3.00. 
BuNYAN,  John — Pilgrim's  Progress.     Century  (111., 

Brothers  Rhead.),  $1.50;    Scribner   (III,  Byam 

Shaw),  $2.50  net. 
Field,  Eugene — A  Little  Book  of  Profitable  Tales. 

Scribner,  $1 .  25. 
Gatty,    Mrs. — Parables    from    Nature.     Bell    (2 

vols.);    Macmillan,    $1.50;   Dutton  (Everyman's 

Library.). 
Houghton,  Louise  Seymour — Telling  Bible  Stories. 

Scribner,  $1 .  25.      [R.  G.  Moulton  has  edited  for 

Macmillan  a  Children's  Series  of  Bible  Stories.] 
Psalms  or  David  (111.,  Brothers  Rhcad.) — Revcll, 

$2.50. 
RusKiN,  John — Sesame  and  LiHes.     [Vide  editions, 

McClurg,  Mosher,  Crowcll,  ete.] 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  269 


III.  Bibliographical  Note 

A  few   references  of   a    miscellaneous  character 
are  here  given: 

Bible  in    Elementary   Schools  (J.    G.    Fitch) — Nineteenth 
Century,  36:817. 

Book,  The  Child  and  His  (Mrs.  E.  M.  Field)— London,  Wells, 
Gardner,  Darton  &  Co.,  1891. 

Book,  The  Child  and  the  (Gerald  Stanley  Lee) — Putnam, 
1907. 

Book-Plates,  Modern,  and  their  Designers  (Gleeson  White) — 
The  Studio,  1898-99,  Supplement  1. 

Books,  Better,  Some  Means  by  Which  Children  May  Be  Led 
to  Read  (Clara  W.  Hunt) — Library  Journal,  24:147. 

Books,   Children's   (CaroUne  M.   Hewins) — Public  Library, 
1:190. 

Books,    Children's,    and  Children    (H.  A.   Page) — Coniew- 

porary,  11:7. 

Books  for  Boys  and  Girls,  On  Some  (From  Blackwood) — Liv. 
Age,  209:3. 

Books  for  Children,  Illustrated  (W.  M.  Thackeray) — Fraser, 
33:495(1846). 

Books  for  Children  That  Have  Lived  (C.  Welsh) — Library 
[London],  n.s.,  1 :  314. 

Books,    The     Best     Hundred,     for    Children — Liv.     Age, 
225: 132. 

Cahnegib    Libraries,    Giving    (L    F.    Marcosson) — World's 
Work,  9:6092. 

CuLTUHE,  On  a  Possible  Popular  (T.  Wright) — Contemporary, 
40:25. 

English,  On  the  Teaching  of  (Percival  Chubb) — Macmillan, 
1902. 

GiiiL,  The  Reading  of  the  Modem  (Florence  B.  Low) — iVtna- 
teenth  Century,  59:  278. 


270  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL   NOTE 

GiKLS  Read,  What  (E.  G.  Salmon) — Nineteenth  Century, 
20:  515. 

Henty  Book,  What  You  Can  Get  Out  of  a  (Caroline  M. 
Hewins) — Wisconsin  Library  Bulletin,  Sept. -Oct.,  1906. 

Lesson-Books,  Our  Ancestor's  (S.  E.  Braine) — Liv.  Age, 
222 : 522. 

Librariana:  An  Outline  of  the  Literature  of  Libraries  (F.  J. 
Teggart) — Library  Journal,  25:223,  577,  625. 

Libraries,  Home,  for  Poor  Children  (Frances  J.  Olcott) — 
Chautauquan,  39:374. 

Libraries,  Public,  in  the  United  States:  Their  History, 
Condition,  and  Management.  Bureau  of  Education, 
1876. 

Libraries,  Small,  Hints  to  (M.  W.  Plummer) — Pratt  Insti- 
tute, 1902. 

Libraries,  The  Free  Travelling,  in  Wisconsin.  The  Story  of 
Their  Growth,  etc.  Wisconsin  Free  Library  Commission, 
Madison,  1897.     [Interesting  monograph.] 

Libraries,  What  Free,  are  doing  for  Children  (Mary  W. 
Plummer.) — Library  Journal,  Vide  vol.  22. 

Library,  The  Free:  Its  History,  etc.  (John  J.  Ogle) — London, 
Allen,  1897. 

Library  Literature  in  England  and  in  the  United  States 
During  the  Nineteenth  Century  (F.  J.  Teggart) — Library 
Journal,  26:257. 

Library  Movement  in  the  South  Since  1899  (Anne  Wallace) — 
Library  Journal,  32:253. 

Library  Work  with  Children  (Arabella  H.  Jackson) — Car- 
negie Library,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.     [Statistical.] 

'  iBR.\RY  Work,  Rational,  With  Children,  and  the  Preparation 
For  It  (Frances  J.  Olcott) — Carnegie  Library,  Pittsburgh. 
Boston:  A.  L.  A.  Pub.  Board.  R«print  Series,  No.  9, 
SO. 05. 

Lists,  Reading,  Fallacies  of — Liv.  Age,  170:218. 

Literature,  Cheap  (Helen  Bosanquet) — Contemporary, 
79:671. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  271 

Literature,  Cheap,  for  Village  Children — Liv.  Age,  138:296. 

Literature,  Children's  (Ellen  M.  Henrotin) — National 
Magazine  (Boston),  7:373. 

Literature  for  the  Little  Ones  (E.  G.  Salmon) — Nineteenth 
Century,  22: 563.] 

Literature,  Modem,  Children  and  (H.  Sutton) — Liv.  Age, 
192:287. 

Music,  Public  School  (S.  W.  Cole) — New  Eng.  Mag.,  n.s., 
13:328. 

Music  in  Schools,  Teaching  of  (J.  C.  Hadden) — Nineteenth 
Century,  42:142. 

Music,  The  Introduction  of  the  Study  of,  into  the  Public 
Schools  of  Boston  and  of  America  (J.  C.  Johnson) — 
Boston,  1 :  622. 

Novels,  Some,  to  Read  (CaroUne  M.  Hewins)— TmreZZer's 
Record,  Feb.-Mar.,  1889. 

Periodicals,  Children's  Books  and  (Abby  L.  Sargent) — 
Library  Journal,  25:  64  [Conference,  June  7-12,  1900.] 

Pictures  in  Library  Work  for  Children,  The  Place  of  (Annie 
C.  Moore) — Library  Journal,  25:159. 

Read,  Some  Things  a  Boy  of  Seventeen  Should  Have  Had  an 
Opportunity  to  (H.  L.  Elmendorf)— 5.  of  Rs.  (N.  Y.), 
28:713. 

Reader,  The  Modern  Child  as  a  (Tudor  Jenks) — Book-Buyer, 
23:17. 

Reading  for  Boys  and  Girls  (E.  T.  Tomlinson) — Atlantic, 
86:693. 

Reading  for  Children  (H.  V.  Weisse) — Contemporary,  79:  829. 

Reading,  On  (Georg  Brandes) — Internal.  Quar.,  12:273. 

Reading,  On  the  Pleasure  of  (Sir  John  Lubbock) — Contem- 
porary, Feb.,  1886. 

School,  The  Xovel  and  the  Common  (Charles  Dudley  Warner) 
— Atlantic,  65:721. 


272  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL   NOTE 

Schools,  School-books,  and  School-masters.  A  Contribution 
to  the  History  of  Educational  Development  in  Great 
Britain  (W.  Carew  Hazlitt)— London,  1888. 

Schooldays  of  Eminent  Men  (John  Timbs) — London,  1870. 

Shakespeare  for  Children  (Charles  Welsh) — Dial  (Chicago), 
May  16,  1907,  in  answer  to  Shakespeare,  Reading,  to 
Children  (Walter  Taylor  Field)— Z>taZ  (Chicago),  May 
1,  1907. 

Stories  to  Children,  How  to  Tell  (Sara  Cone  Bryant) — 
Houghton,  Sl.OO  net. 

Story-Books,  Children's  (F.  Maccuun) — Liv.  Age,  241:746. 

Story-Tellers,  About  Old  (Donald  G.  Mitchell) — Scribner. 

Women's  Clubs,  How,  May  Help  the  Library  Movement  (E. 
G.  Browning) — Library  Journal,  24; —  suppl.  C.  18. 
[Conference,  May  9-13,  1899.] 


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